


Marigold

by ShortCryptid



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Dreams and Nightmares, Dreamsharing, Fire, Flowers, Forbidden Love, Heavy Angst, Homophobia, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I live off of comments, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Magic, Not Beta Read, Original Character(s), Period-Typical Homophobia, Plants, Romance, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22458337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShortCryptid/pseuds/ShortCryptid
Summary: Leo Jaxton knew two facts. Of course, he knew more than two facts, but these two particular facts were the ones he was focusing on at the moment.The first fact was; witches are wicked. Of course, Leo thought, being a witch didn’t automatically make a person wicked. Witches being bad was just the general consensus his town had on the particular people, and he didn’t want to disagree less he gets accused of being one himself and set fire to. Leo personally, had never met any witches, and he’s positive that they all very different on the scale of good and evil.The second fact was that a witch lived in the abandoned house on the hill. At least, that’s what he’s been informed. He had never seen the witch, but he does know that he is the young man who lives isolated at the peak of the highest hill in his town.ON INDEFINITE HIATUS
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character, original - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter One

Leo Jaxton knew two facts. Of course, he knew more than two facts, but these two particular facts were the ones he was focusing on at the moment.

The first fact was; witches are wicked. Of course, Leo thought, being a witch didn’t automatically make a person wicked. Witches being bad was just the general consensus his town had on the particular people, and he didn’t want to disagree less he gets accused of being one himself and set fire to. Leo personally, had never met any witches, and he’s positive that they all very different on the scale of good and evil.

The second fact was that a witch lived in the abandoned house on the hill. At least, that’s what he’s been informed. He had never seen the witch, but he does know that he is the young man who lives isolated at the peak of the highest hill in his town.

Leo had seen many people around him hung due to being witches (or rather not being witches, and being accused of being one because someone just didn’t like them). Some friends, some enemies, and some strangers. But no one seemed to touch the witch. Despite the fact that most of his town concluded he was a witch, he thinks that they are too afraid to get him, so they just leave him be at the top of his hill.

Leo was startled out of his train of thought as his older sister, Agnes, whacked him on the back of his head with a roll of the newspaper he was supposed to be delivering “Leo!” she shouted. He startled in confusion and massaged the back of his head. “You were supposed to be delivering these ten minutes ago!”

Leo hastily jerks the basket of newspaper from Agnes’s grip hurrying out the door before she could plunge into a long lecture. He could nearly hear her in his head, ‘You need to do more for the family, Leo? Why can’t you help with money, Leo? You’re so lazy, Leo.’. He’s thankfully able to get himself out the door before she could start.

Leo's town was an average-sized settlement covered in grassy meadows and wildflowers. There weren’t many trees nearby, so most of the buildings were made of stones and maybe some wood if you could get your hands on it. Most of the trees reside around the witch’s house, and no one’s going to get close enough to get any. Leo and his five siblings hadn’t always lived there. They had migrated over when he was seven after their parents had died, Leo was seventeen now, so now he had to do more than just pick flowers and play in the mud.

He strode down the busy streets, tossing the paper at his neighbour’s doors. He nearly gets his feet ran over my horse-drawn carriages three times before he makes it to the town’s witch-finder, Leo had always found himself drawn by the subject of witches. He’d intended to go and speak to the witch-hunter Elliot Quincy moons ago, he just never quite got to it.

Instead of throwing the newspaper at the witch-hunter’s door, he went up to it and knocked. He had been meaning to speak with him for a while now, he just hadn’t gotten the chance to do it yet. “Hullo?” he called loudly. “Mr Quincy?”

The door swung open and Leo was swiftly hauled into the house. Mr Quincy pushed him against a wall and shone a bright light into his eyes. “Who are you!?” he demanded. “Are you a witch?”

Leo let out a wheeze of surprise. “N-no?”

Mr Quincy let out a small sigh of relief. “No. You’re not, witches have green eyes, you have blue eyes.” he patted Leo on his shoulder.

“They do?” Leo leaned forward curiously.

Mr Quincy’s dark eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Interested in witches, eh?” he inquired gruffly. When Leo quickly nodded, Mr Qunicy’s brows raised higher. “Not many folks are all too interested in witches, lad.”

“Mr Quincy, sir, I’ve always found the subject curious.” he looked up at the tall man hopefully. “I’d like to know more, sir. That is if you wouldn’t mind…”

Mr Quincy planted his large calloused hand on Leo's head and ruffled his short blonde hair. “Of course not, lad! I could use an apprentice.”

Leo let out a short breath of awe “An apprentice, me?”

Mr Quincy smirked. “Why not? What’s your name, lad?”

“L-Leo!” he stuttered. “Leo Jaxton!” he added as an afterthought.

“Well, Mr Jaxton, welcome to witch-hunting.” Mr Quincy had accepted Leo quickly, he thought. He must really need someone to help him if he chose him.

“Sit down, I’ll tell you all you need to know.”

_ _ _

By the time Mr Quincy was finished sharing his knowledge on witches, it was nearly midnight. In the back of his head, a small, sensible, voice was telling him; you should probably go home, your siblings are probably worried. But a louder voice ringing throughout his skull was shouting; more more more!

There were, apparently, much more to know about witches than them having pointy hats and brooms. They had green eyes (Though, there had been some ‘witches’ that didn’t have green eyes), pale skin, moles, lots of pets, and obviously magic.

“Mr Quincy… I’m honoured you’ve chosen me as a student, but there has to be a purpose behind it. Do you need help with something?”

Mr Quincy runs his hand down his face and through his greying brown hair. “You’ve heard of the-witch-of-the-hill, right lad?”

It was common knowledge that the witch was odd. Even if you’ve never seen nor met him, people just knew. Everyone knew about The-Witch-of-the-Hill. No one knew what he looked like or what his name was, though.

Leo nodded slowly. “Yes, I’ve heard of him. He lives at the top of that hill by the sea. I’ve never met him, though.”

“The people have grown restless. They want to know if he’s actually a threat or not. I need to figure out if he’s a witch.” he paused, raising his grey eyes to meet Leo's blue ones. “I need help. I need someone to go up to him.”

Deadly excitement coursed through Leo's veins. “I can do that!”

Mr Quincy narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure? You could get seriously hurt. Are you ready to risk your life?” he pauses. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to, we’ve only known each other for a few hours.”

A small grin grows on Leo's face. “Will I get paid?”

Mr Quincy rolled his eyes. “Of course, Leo.”

Leo stuck out his hand. “Then it’s a deal, sir.”

Mr Quincy took it and they shook. “It’s a deal. And don’t call me sir, makes me feel like an old man.”

“Alright, Quincy.”

Quincy peered out the window and looked at the sky. “You best be getting home now, before your family gets worried.”

Leo gets up from the chair he was sitting in. “Yeah, my sister will be pissed if I don’t make it home.”

Quincy lets out a laugh of surprise. “Language, boy!”

Leo only grinned and dashed out the door.

_ _ _

By the time Leo got to his doorstep, it must’ve been around midnight. It would’ve been easier to tell, had he a clock on him. When he opened the door, he was met by the angry face of one of his sisters, Lily. “Where the hell have you been, Leo?!” she hissed.

Leo pushed past her and set the empty basket down. “I got a new job!” he exclaimed. “And it pays more than being a paperboy.”

Cole, who was leaning against a bookshelf raised his eyebrows. “What is it?”

“You know that witch-hunter-guy Elliot Quincy?” he smiled.

Agnes’s face grew red. “You didn’t.”

“I did.” his smile grew bigger.

Cole burst out in laughter. “What are you, a witch-hunter!?” he cackled as Leo nodded.

“Yep!” he proclaimed, wiggling his eyebrows at Agnes. “I’m a witch-hunter apprentice now.” 

Lily sat down on a chair. “You better be paid well for this.”  
“I am, I promise.” he paused. “You guys have heard of the witch, right?”

Agnes furrowed her eyebrows. “The strange guy who lives on the mountain?”

Leo nodded. “That’s the guy,” he leaned closer to Agnes. “I’m going to investigate him for being accused of witchcraft.”

Lily tilted her head to the side. “What are you going to do if he’s not a witch? What if he’s just an odd guy who likes to wear pointy hats?”

Leo shrugged. “Then we leave him alone, I guess.”

Cole scoffed, obviously no believing him. “And when are you going to do this?”

“Mr Quincy said I should come back tomorrow and then I can start.”

Lily shrugged. “Best be getting to bed then. Do you have any idea how late it is, Leo?”

Agnes let out a huff of air. “Yeah, we thought you got sacked or murdered or something.”

Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry, I just lost track of time. I promise it won’t happen again.”

Cole scoffed again. “Let’s see how long that promise lasts.”

Lily lightly slapped him on the cheek. “Leo, just go to bed. James and Harley are already sleeping.”

Leo nodded and made his way up the stairs and to the bedroom he shared with his twin brother Harley. Harley was the sibling he was closest to, probably because they were twins. He opened the door and found Harley still awake and sitting on his bed. “So you got a real job, eh?” he smirked, his blue eyes twinkling.

Leo sat down on his own bed. “Did you hear everything?”

Harley nodded and placed a hand over his chest. “My brother is finally going to get a life!” he gasps dramatically. “I always knew this day would come!” he flopped down on his blanket dramatically.

Leo rolled his eyes (which he was starting to do more and more often). “You know, you could get yourself a job too now,” 

Harley got up and laughed. “Never. I’m never getting a job.” he extinguished the lamp that was lighting the room. “Well, I’m going to bed. You should too.”

Leo smiled softly as he crawled under his quilt and let the darkness consume him.

_ _ _

Leo didn’t usually dream. And if he did, he never remembered them. He’d also never had a dream where he was entirely conscious during it, either. But here he was, standing in the middle of a giant field of marigolds.

All around him, the marigolds danced in a golden-orange wave as the soft breeze gently blew them about. Leo wandered for a while, the sun shining down on him, making him pleasantly warm.

Eventually, he found a figure sitting down amongst the flowers. The figure wore a pristine white button-up shirt and black dress pants. The figure had lovely inky black hair that stopped just below their ears. He approached them curiously. “Hullo?”

The figure looked up (Leo had decided that this figure was male) and smiled. “Hullo, It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?”

Leo settled down next to the guy, he looked about his age and had soft pale features. “I guess it is… do you have any idea where we are?”

The stranger turned to face him. His eyes were a piercing green. “This is a dream, we are wherever you’d like us to be.”

Leo looked around, feeling oddly calm. “I guess this is a dream,” he trails off, turning to face the man. “I like your eyes, they’re very pretty”

The stranger blinks in surprise before pushing his curly hair from his face. “You think?” a light blush dusted his freckled face. “Most people think they’re creepy…”

Leo smiled brightly. “They’re lovely! They remind me of the forest.”

The green-eyed stranger leans closer to him and smiles. “Your eyes remind me of the sea.” His eyes brighten, “I live by the sea.” he adds as an afterthought.

Leo leans in, curiously. “You do?” his thoughts drifted. “I’ve always wanted to go to the sea, I just never got to it.”

“You can come by my sea anytime you’d like…” The strange man pauses. “What’s your name? We must be sharing a dream for a reason.”

“My name is Leo,” he smiles at the sweet stranger.

“That’s a nice name, my name is-”

_ _ _

Before the mysterious person in his dream could answer he was startled from his sleep by Harley falling off of his bed. He growled in frustration. He knew it was just a dream, but it felt so real. He got out of bed and silently walked over to Harley, who seemed to still be sound asleep despite falling. He peeked out the curtains and noticed that it was dawn.

He pulled clothes on and tried to walk down the stairs as quietly as possible. He grabbed an apple as he went outside. He opened the door silently and gently shut it behind him. The brilliant light of the morning sun shone in his eyes as he hurried to his friend’s house. He ran down the path and ran behind her house. Once in front of the window leading to her bedroom, Leo chucked a rock at the window.

A loud noise was heard from the window and a lot of crashing. Finally, the window was flung open by a very fierce-looking redhead. “What the fuck, Leo?”

He greeted her up at the window. “Good morning, Hazel,” He tossed an apple up at her. “I brought you an apple!” he shouted up.

She rolled her eyes down at him. “Yeah, yeah, let me get out of the house.” and with that, she shut the window and disappeared.

Leo and Hazel had been friends for two years. They had met when Hazel had chucked a rock at the back of his head, mistaking him for someone else. Their friendship had been sailing smoothly since then. Or, as smoothly as a friendship built off of throwing stuff at each other could be.

“Hazel, I finally got a real job.” 

Hazel lifted her eyebrows in scepticism. “Really?” she smirked. “For real this time?”

Leo glares. “Why do people keep asking that? Yes, I got a job!”

Hazel placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “What is it then?”

Leo shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant. “I’m a witch-hunter now if you must know.”

Hazel let out a surprised sound of shock. “You’re kidding, right?” When Leo didn’t say anything she let out a snort. “Leo, you can barely hunt animals. Bloody hell, how are you supposed to hunt a witch?”

Leo grew a tad bit pale. “It seemed like a good idea at the time…”

Hazel slapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m sure you’ll do fine.” A grin sneaks across her freckled face. “Though, I was right about you not being able to hunt. You’re shit.”

Leo swatted her hand away. “If you’re not going to support me, you can just go back inside.” he sniffed, turning away from her. “I guess this also means that you don’t get to hear about the witch I’m going to hunt…” he glances at her from the corner of his eye, a smirk growing across his tan face.

Hazel leaned closer to him. “No, no, tell me.”

Leo folded his arms across his chest. He knew that Hazel couldn’t resist this. “Hmm, no I don’t think I will…”

“Leo! You have to tell me, don’t leave me hanging!” she insisted, shaking his shoulder lightly.

He turns back to her, his smile growing. “The Witch-of-the-hill.” he simply stated.

Hazel looked over at the distant house on the mountain curiously. “My brother says he saw him in the woods carrying animal skulls. But, it’s my brother, can’t trust anything that comes from his mouth.”

That was true. One time, her brother, Charlie, tricked half the village into believing the food was poisoned. That whole mess ended up with half the food supplies being destroyed before he confessed to the lie. For a twenty-year-old, he was very immature. “It might be true. Who knows at this point. I’ve never seen him in person, but I’m certain that he’s pretty witchy. Probably has a crooked nose and a bunch of warts.”

Hazel shrugged, fishing an apple from her pocket. “I’ve never seen him either,” she takes a big bite of the apple. “I’m starting to believe he doesn’t even exist. Just a scary bedtime story told to kids to keep them away from cliffs.”

Leo frowned. He’d never thought of that being a possibility. There weren’t many people he knew that had the pleasure of meeting the mysterious witch. Just rumours. “It could be a possibility,” he answers vaguely. “But that doesn’t make that true. If he is real, he might not even be a witch. Just a completely ordinary, if not slightly strange, person.”

Hazel spits a seed onto the ground. “He’d got to be a special sort of anti-social to be that odd.”

“Some people like solitude.” he glanced back over to the mountain. “And there’s got to be someone living up there. There’s a house and everything.”

Hazel squints at it. “It could be abandoned.” she reasoned.

“No, I’ve seen smoke coming from the chimney,” he argued back. “People also claim that there’s a lovely garden up there. Too neat to not be taken care of properly.”

Hazel rolls her eyes. “Well at least someone’s living up there. That someone might not be a witch, though.”

“Okay, let’s stop arguing about this. It doesn’t if there is or isn’t a witch. I have to look anyway.”

Hazel nods, thankfully, dropping the subject of whether the witch-of-the-hill is real or not. “When is this all happening?” she took another bite of the apple.

“Mr Quincy told me to come back around the afternoon. So I have a while of free time till then.”

Hazel sighs and tosses the apple to the ground behind her. “As much as I hate to suggest this, I think we should go and see if my brother actually knows anything.” she sniffs. “I still think he’s an idiot though.”

Leo straightens up. “Alright. Where do you think he’d be?”  
“Probably goofing off by the market. He’s always goofing off, that fool.”

_ _ _

Hazel’s brother was, indeed, in the market. However, he was not goofing off. He was getting beaten to a pulp by another man.

As they pushed through the small crowd that had gathered around the two fighting men, it became abundantly clear that they would have to stop the fight.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Hazel shouted over the yelling.

Her brother, obviously, hadn’t heard her, as the fight continued. “Oi!” Leo shouted to no avail.

Hazel growled under her breath and pushed her way up to her brother. “Oi, Charlie, what the fuck?!”

The fighting stopped and the two men looked down at the angry redhead. Leo pushed his way next to his friend. “Wott is happening here?” he asked.

The man, who Charlie had been fighting, glared over at Leo. “He stole my apples!” he gestured at the sack that was firmly tied to Charlie’s back.

Hazel placed her hands on her hips. “Charlie, give the bugger his apples back,” she demanded.

“But we need them!” Charlie whined at his younger sister.

“Just give them back,” Leo tried to reason.

The apple-owner nodded at Leo. “Yeah, listen to the lad. At least someone here is reasonable.”

Charlie let out one last groan before dropping the bag of stolen apples at his feet. The man snatched them from the ground and yanked Charlie by the collar. “If I ever catch you stealing from me again I won’t let you go so easily.” he pushed Charlie away and stormed back to his stand.

Once Charlie sulked back to them, Hazel raised her hand and smacked him over his head. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, stealing from someone like that?!” she scolded him.  
“Stop treating me like a child, I’m much older than you, pipsqueak,” he rolled his eyes, rubbing his hand at the back of his head. 

Hazel leaned closer to her brother. “Then stop acting like one. I’m not your mum!” she grabbed Charlie and Leo by the wrists and started back to her house.

“Ow, ow ow ow, Hazel, you can let go of my arm!” Leo pleaded as he was dragged along.

Hazel squeezed his arm tighter. “Shut up, you’re coming too.”

Leo knew better than to fight back when Hazel was in one of her moods. One time, someone tripped her and she gave him two black eyes. To Hazel, it didn’t matter as long as someone was paying for what happened.

When the trio reached Hazel and Charlie’s house she finally let go. Leo backed up as Hazel surged forward and yanked Charlie by the collar of his shirt. “What the hell were you thinking, stealing from someone like that?!”

“Hazel, I-” 

“No,” Hazel interrupted. “What would I do if something happened to you?” she shouted, pulling her brother closer. “Mum and Dad are gone, what would happen to me if you went to jail?!”

Charlie looks away from his sister. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Hazel shook him lightly by the shoulders. “We can’t afford to not think straight!” she let go of his poor collar. “Please,” she begged him “please don’t do that again.”

Leo awkwardly looked away. The scene before him looked too personal between the siblings for him to be involved. “Uh,” he backed up a bit. “I’m going to go. I hope you two sort this out. I’ll let you know about the job tomorrow, Hazel.” When Hazel gave him a small nod of acknowledgement, Leo let through the open door.

Hazel and Charlie’s parents had disappeared one day. Hazel was six and Charlie was ten. No one knew where or why they had gone, they had just simply vanished. Charlie had mostly raised Hazel, but Hazel still acts more adult than him. He still taught her everything she knows though.

Leo had two other friends he could tell about his new job. Of course, he has more than three friends, but, these were his best friends. Sure he had a few friends here and there, but they weren’t his best. His other friend, Beatrice Walker, lived in the woods so he would go find her last (assuming she was home). His last friend, Ford Aria, lived near the market, so it wouldn’t be a long walk.

Leo and Ford had been friends the longest, so he felt especially close to him (not that he didn’t feel close to Hazel and Mea, though), they had met when they were seven. Their favourite hangout spot was the lighthouse near the Witch’s Mountain. Leo, Mea, Hazel, and Ford tried to all met there at least twice a month.

Ford, too, was interested in the idea of witches. When they were younger they used to play ‘witch-hunt’. In ‘witch-hunt’ one player was chosen to be the ‘witch’. The witch had to hide while the ‘hunters’ tried to find them. Of course, the ‘witch’ was given a pointy hat for the aesthetic. Ford would probably freak out when he told him about his new witch-hunter job.

Ford lived in a nice house. His parents had good jobs and he didn’t have any siblings, so he didn’t have to share anything. Before Leo had a chance to knock on the front door, it swung open in his face. “Leo!” his friend shouted.

Leo stepped back in surprise as Ford emerged from the house. “Ford, you’ll never guess what happened,” he grinned. 

Ford shrugged. “I’m not going to even try to guess. What happened?”

Leo's smile grew bigger. “I got a job.”

Ford furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s not the news I expected. I thought you were already a newspaper-boy?”

Leo rolled his eyes as they walked down a rocky trail. “No, I got a better job.” He scoffed. “I wasn’t even getting paid for the newspaper thing.”

Ford tilted his head, intrigued. “Well, spit it out then.”

“Okay, brace yourself.” 

“...I’m braced.”

“I’m a witch-hunter.”

Ford's eyes widened, obviously not expecting that answer. “You’re kidding.”  
Leo shook his head. “Nope.” he popped the ‘p’.

Ford's eyes widened further, he ran his hand through his stocky brown hair. “You’re kidding!” he gasped, smiling.

Leo placed his hand on Ford's shoulder. “I start this afternoon,”

Ford began to shake with excitement. “You’re going to hunt witches!” he pauses for a moment. “I’m the first to know, right?”

Leo nervously rakes his hand through his golden hair. “Uh, no. I’ve told Hazel,”

“Really?” Ford is now pouting.

Leo released his hair from his grip. “On the bright side, I haven’t told Beatrice yet…”

Ford yanks Leo's arm and starts running towards the forest. “Come on, let’s go tell her now!”

“I-I was going to tell her after, anyways,” Leo stuttered, as he was dragged for the second time that day. As they travelled through the thick forest, every now and again, in a gap in the trees, you could see the witch’s house looming over them.

“So, is it the witch you’re hunting?”

Leo glanced at the looming house and nodded. “Yeah, it is,”

Ford glances at it too. “Let me know what he’s like. If he even is a he, that is.” It is true that no one’s actually met the witch, but someone started referring the witch as he, so naturally, everyone else started too.

“I’ll find out soon enough, I guess.”

“The witch-hunter’s name is Elliot Quincy, right?”

Leo hummed in affirmation.

“Do you think that Mr Quincy will send you out right away, or maybe train you more?” he scrunched up his face in thought. “He can’t just send you out with no experience, right?”

Leo had never thought about that. He’d been so excited to hunt a witch that he hadn’t thought that he might need training or something first. “I don’t know. Mr Quincy seemed quite desperate to get the witch. He might just send me up there wither I know what I’m doing or not.”

“I think that’s he’s rather mad in the head if you ask me,”

Leo looked back at his friend. “I don’t think he’s mad. He’s probably just stressed from all the witch-hunting.”

Ford shrugged. “Well, you how some people are saying that there might not even be any witches at all. That we’re just hanging people for nothing,”

Leo felt sick to his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe you're still reading this.

What if we are just hanging people for no reason? Ford's question rang relentlessly through Leo's head. He didn’t even want to think about it. Surely, they weren’t just killing innocent people, right?

He had never met a witch, but he was sure they were real. But the tiny voice in the back of his skull kept repeating Ford's words. He needed to talk to Mr Quincy.

Leo backed up a few steps. “Where are you going?” Ford tilted his head curiously.

“I-I’ll be back. I have to go do something quick. Tell Beatrice ‘hi’ for me,” Leo sped off before Ford could respond.

He nearly tripped twice as he sped through the forest and back towards the village. He also managed to run into three people on the way too. When he reached Mr Quincy’s door, he almost ran into it. He threw it open, startling Mr Quincy, who was heating some stew for lunch. “Mr Quincy!” he shouted at the poor man.

“Jaxton…?” Mr Quincy responded, recovering from the shock.

Leo approached the older man. “Mr Quincy, witches are real, right?” his voice trembled a bit at the end.

Mr Quincy brushed himself off. “Of course, my boy. What got you thinking such nonsense?”

Leo let out a small sigh of relief, though a small part of him was still scared. “Oh, that’s good, I just needed to know that we aren’t hanging innocent people for no reason,”

Mr Quincy awkwardly pats the teen’s shoulder. “I’ve seen them in action with my own two eyes, my boy.” he paused, obviously thinking about something. “Why don’t we start now? I mean, you’re already here. Maybe you’ll feel better once you’ve seen one of em’.”

“Are they that horrible?”

Mr Quincy nods solemnly. “Aye. You should see them summon devils, kill an entire village, mind control people. They truly are horrible.”

“There are devils too?” Leo hadn’t thought about all of the other fantastical creatures that could be alive. That was rather foolish of himself if a witch existed, why wouldn’t others too?

“Come on, let’s go now,” Mr Quincy opened the front door, sunlight streaming in the darkroom.

Leo fiddled with his sleeve. “Sir, I told my friend I would be right back… I can’t just leave him in the forest.” his thoughts drifted back to Ford. Leo knew he wasn’t dumb enough to stay alone in the forest for more than thirty minutes, but he still worried.

Mr Quincy waved his hand, as though he were brushing the question off. “He’ll be fine. They can wait, this is more important.”

Leo nodded to himself. Mr Quincy was right, he needed to make sure the witch was a witch or the question would eat away at him. “Okay, I’m ready to go,”

_ _ _

It was a silent walk as Mr Quincy led Leo up the path to the cursed hill. It was mostly silent because neither men knew what to say to each other. Elliot Quincy had already given all of his knowledge of witches to Leo, and Leo didn’t know the older man well enough to start a conversation.

Finally, breaking the awkward silence, the duo sees the witch’s house in the distance. It was circular and rather tall. The cliff it sat on was dotted with a diverse combination of plants and flowers. If Leo were being honest, it looked pretty cosy. It was hard to imagine a witch might live there, summoning devils and cursing people and such. There was still smoke emerging from the chimney settled atop the roof. Someone was home.

Mr Quincy didn’t lead them up the stone path leading to the front door. They just stood at the foot of the steep hill. Leo glanced nervously at Mr Quincy, “Are we going to go in… or?” he nervously shuffled his feet.

Mr Quincy shakes his head, not looking at the teen. “No, we’re going to watch for now.”  
Leo frowned, he needed to know if it was a witch now, he didn’t want to wait. “When are we going to go up?”

Mr Quincy sighed, dragging his hand through his hair like an annoyed parent. “We need to know more. We can’t just barge in without knowing what we’re up against, we might be attacked.”

Leo still felt impatient but accepted the man’s reply anyway. “So what, we’re just going to stand here and watch? Wait for it to come out?”

Mr Quincy stretches, getting comfortable. “Precisely.”

Leo settles down on the ground beneath a large tree. He’d thought this job would’ve been more dramatic and action-packed, but it was more than that. No matter how impatient or bored he is, it won’t change the fact that Mr Quincy is right. You can’t just dive head-first into danger and not think of the consequences.

_ _ _

They sat out in the sun for a few hours or so before someone came out of the house. It was hard to see too many details since the figure was so far away from them, but Leo could pick out a few things. The person was slim and short in height. They wore a white dress shirt and dark pants that were worn at the knees. But most interestingly, they wore a pointy black wide-brimmed hat. The hat was like any other stereotypical witch hat, except it had a ring of flowers around the base.

Leo found himself holding his breath as the figure got down on their knees and began digging around in the garden. They pulled out weeds, checked for spots, and just generally acted like a normal person. After a while, they went back into the house and emerged with a watering can. Leo could only watch in surprise as the figure tended to their garden. Leo glanced at Mr Quincy and saw that he had a similar expression of awe on his face as well. “They’re just… gardening,” he stated, rubbing his stubble in thought.

Leo frowned, thinking back to the little knowledge he had on witches. “Do witches garden?”

“Possibly,” Mr Quincy shrugged. “I’ve personally never seen one gardening before. Just cooking newts and summoning demons.”

Leo turned his glance thoughtfully at the man. “How many witches have you seen?”

Mr Quincy turned his glance up to the sky, trying to recall. “More than I can count on my two hands.” he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve seen a lot of witches in my lifetime, lad,”

“How could you tell?”

Mr Quincy frowned. “Tell what?”

“Tell that they were witches?”

Mr Quincy rubs his stubble again. “Well, there are lots of ways to tell if someone’s a witch, lad.” he peers curiously at the figure, who was still wandering around watering their garden. “Most witches have green eyes. Green is such a mischievous, jealous colour.” He begins to list stuff off on his fingers. “They usually have a lot of pets. People around them might act strange, like their under mind control… But there’s one way that helps me,”

Leo leaned forward, hanging onto every word. 

“It’s mostly my intuition,” the older man continues. “If my gut feeling tells me someone is acting strange, I investigate them.”

Leo narrows his blue eyes. “Please tell me you investigated them before you hung them.” Leo was currently having an internal panic attack of his morals.

Mr Quincy’s dark eyes widen in shock. “Of course, of course, my dear boy!” he lets out a laugh of surprise. “I don’t just go around hanging innocent people!”

Leo gripped his knees. “Yes, but is there a way to tell for certain that someone’s a witch?”

Mr Quincy’s gaze darkened. “Yes. I just told you.”

Leo Leaned in further. “No, you just told me assumptions. I need to know that there’s a way to tell for certain that a person is or isn’t a witch.”

Mr Quincy looked everywhere but Leo. “There isn’t anyway.”

Leo raised his eyebrows. “What?”

Mr Quincy shifts his gaze back to the figure. “There isn’t a way to tell for certain, but I’ll figure it out.”

Leo looked back at the figure as well. “What will you do if you catch an actual witch?” 

Mr Quincy thinks for a long moment. “Lock it up, study it, then kill it,” he replies simply.

“You’d study them?”

“Yep, I poke it, I’d test it, see what kills it.”

“Isn’t that a bit cruel?” Leo asked.

“Not after you’ve seen what they can do, laddie,” said Mr Quincy.

Leo didn’t want to hurt anyone. Evil or not, they can’t be all that bad. No matter how evil someone is, Leo still knew deep down inside that they were still human. Humans who had friends, family, and loved ones. Leo didn’t think he could take that from someone.

“It’s getting late,” said Mr Quincy.

Leo turned his gaze to the sky. It was, in fact, late out. The once blue sky was now a deepening shade of pink, stars were just starting to come out. “I should get going home,” Leo said, getting up.

Mr Quincy nodded, getting up as well. “Come back tomorrow lad, we can get closer now.”

As Leo made his way home, he realized he didn’t feel any better. He’d thought that Mr Quincy would know everything and would be able to soothe Leo's uncertainty, but he just seemed to make it worse. Leo was confused. He couldn’t prove or disprove that this person was a witch or not, and it made him sick.

Just simply watching the figure from afar wasn’t enough. Mr Quincy had told him that they would get closer tomorrow, but Leo couldn’t wait that long. Leo needed to know now.

_ _ _

It might not have been the brightest idea to stalk a might-possibly-be-witch in the middle of the night without telling anyone else where he was, but Leo didn’t care. He stood at the foot of the hill where he stood merely an hour ago.

With every step further up the hill, Leo's heartbeat faster. He couldn’t tell if it was excitement, dread, or a strange combination of both, but it didn’t matter. He tried his hardest not to step on any of the flowers as he made his way up. He would’ve taken the step, stone steps leading up to the house, but they might be loud and he might alert the poor person living in the tall house.

The lights in the house were out. Everything was quiet, even the birds and insects. As he got closer to the door, Leo accidentally kicked a rock out of place. Suddenly, it felt like everything was wide awake. Dim lights flickered on in the house and a voice called out.

“Is someone there?”

Leo stumbled backwards in shock. In his hurry, he had forgotten the steep steps behind him and fell. He tumbled hard down the steps towards the bottom of the hill. He vaguely realized that the front door of the house was now open and a figure was hurrying down the steps to him.

The last thing Leo saw before he blacked out was the most vivid green eyes he’s ever seen. “You’re beautiful,” he mumbled dazedly before everything went black.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations, you've made it to chapter three. I didn't think anyone would read chapter one if I'm being honest here. Thanks for reading :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've changed Milo's name to Leo because I feel like it fits him better. That's pretty much the biggest change.

Leo woke up in an unfamiliar house. Unlike his house, which was mostly stone, this house was made of wood. He groaned and rubbed the back of his head and sat up. He couldn’t remember what he was doing in the strange house, but he did remember that he fell and hit his head, strangely though, his head didn’t hurt at all. He had been laying on a couch and was tucked into a soft blanket. How long have I been out? He glanced out the window, the sun was high in the sky. A wave of panic washed over Leo. He hadn’t told anyone where he was going, people might think he’s missing! He swung his legs over the side of the couch and stumbled to his feet. Leo noticed a note and a warm cup of tea sitting on the table before him (he was sure it hadn’t been there before). He made his way over and read the note.

Hello, you fell and hit your head. I decided that I couldn’t just leave you there, so I brought you in. Don’t worry, you’ve only been out for the night and this morning, no one knows you’re missing yet. 

I’ve made you a cup of tea if you want it. There’s food in the kitchen if you get hungry. I’m in the garden if you need me.

Sincerely, you’re friend, Aster Wicket.

Leo ignored the cup of tea and slipped the note into his pocket. “What the hell?” he murmured to himself. “How the hell did they know that I’m awake?” Leo didn’t know anyone by the name Aster Wicket. He made his way to the front door and swung it open. He peered out the door and felt his stomach drop as he took in the familiar landscape. He was in a house, on a hill, which was covered in flowers. He suddenly remembered why he was here.

He shifted his gaze to the edge of the cliff, which hung dangerously over an abyss of jagged rocks and ocean, and was met with a small figure digging around in the soil. He held his breath and strode towards them. “H-Hullo,” he coughed awkwardly down at the figure in the black hat.

Leo was met with green eyes as the stranger looked up at him. He had a pale round face and wavy black hair that framed it perfectly. He looked strangely familiar. A smile spread across the teen’s (or at least he assumed he were a teen, he looked around his age.) “You’re awake,”

Leo shuffled under the teen’s vibrant green gaze. “Uh, yeah, are you Aster Wicket?”

“Yes, and you are?”

“Oh, uh, Leo.” he fidgeted awkwardly. “...Jaxton,” he added lamely.

Aster’s eyes widened a bit. “I thought I recognized you from somewhere!”

Leo didn’t think he’d even met this strange man before in his life. Maybe he’s mistaken him for someone else? “I’m sorry?” he replies, genuinely confused.

Aster got up from his knees to meet Leo’s eyes. “We shared a dream a few nights ago,”

Leo’s thoughts drifted back to the strange dream he had a night or so ago. The one where he was in a marigold field ( which was starting to strangely look like the flower field he was currently standing in) where he met a black haired teen who he hadn’t gotten the name of. “T-That was real?” Leo was very confused.

Aster came closer. “So you do remember,”

Leo backed up a bit. “You didn’t tell me your name…” he said.

“And now you know it,” said Aster, bending down and picking up some weeds. “Would you help me carry these?”

Leo nodded quickly and got down on his knees to help. Leo wanted to ask if Aster was a witch, but held himself back. “How come we dreamed of each other?”

Aster glanced at Leo as they made their way back to the house. “I’m not sure. Dreams work strangely, never been able to understand them.”

“That makes sense,” (it didn’t) said Leo.

As they got to the front door Leo realized that both their hands were full. Leo was about to put his pile of weeds down so that he could open the door when it just swang open before him. “What the…” he muttered under his breath.  
Noticing Leo’s confusion, Aster replies to him. “It’s alright, I got it.”

As they got into the house Leo couldn’t stop staring at the door. “How did it do that?” Leo looked over at Aster. “How did it do that?” he repeated.

Aster placed his pile of weeds down on a nearby table. “Might’ve just been the wind.” 

Leo knew that it was nearly impossible for the wind to have opened the door like that. Especially with the direction, the wind was blowing, and the weight of the door. Leo didn’t believe it, but he left it alone, simply nodding. “Really strong wind,” he muttered under his breath.

Leo placed his pile of weeds onto the table. “How’s your head?” asked Aster.

Leo subconsciously rubbed the back of his head. “It’s strange. It doesn’t hurt at all.”

A small smile fell upon Aster’s face. “Strange indeed.”

“I best get going. My family might start to worry. Thank you for helping me,” Leo said, reaching for the door.

Aster nodded in agreement. “Thank you for helping me with my weeds.”

This time, the door did not swing open on its own. As Leo stepped out and cautiously made his way down the steep stone steps (which miraculously didn’t have a spot of blood on them), he fought the urge to run right back in. He didn’t know why, but he felt drawn to the strange man. He felt like he was a fish trying to swim upstream. He felt bad for running out on the man, who was just trying to help, but the witch rumours put him off. 

Leo mentally slapped himself. He’d forgotten to ask him if he were a witch. That was his whole reason for going to the house in the first place. Of course, Leo reasoned, if he had asked Aster probably would’ve said no whether he was a witch or not (because who wants to be burnt alive?). 

As Leo entered the forest and continued to argue with himself, a familiar voice called down to him from a tree. “Leo?”

Leo looked up in surprise at the sound of his friend, Beatrice Walker, who was currently sitting high up in a tree, staring down at him. Her large brown eyes unblinkingly staring at him. “Bee?” he asked uncertainly. “What are you doing up there?”  
Beatrice was strange. That was one of the biggest reasons her parents decided to move into the forest, away from the town. It had been a miracle that Beatrice hadn’t been executed for witchcraft with the way she acts. “Oh, just hanging around,” she replied calmly. “What are you doing, Leo?”

“Uh,” Leo was about to attempt to lie, but Beatrice’s dark gaze felt like it was boring into his brain. “Visiting the witch that lives on the hill.” he decided to be honest.

Beatrice tilted her head and looked curiously off into the direction of the hill. “Oh? Aster?”

Leo furrowed his eyebrows at his friend. “You’ve met him?”

Beatrice shook her head. “I’ve only heard of him. I have heard that he is rather sweet, though,”

Leo didn’t know what to say. 

Beatrice continued. “I saw you and that man, Elliot Quincy, go over there yesterday.”

Leo was starting to feel uncomfortable under her burning gaze. “Uh, yeah, I’m a witch-hunter now.”

His friend simply nodded. “Ford told me.” Beatrice leaned forward, her platinum blonde hair falling into her face. “Elliot Quincy came back. You didn’t.”

Leo coughed awkwardly. “I fell and hit my head. Aster helped me.”

Beatrice nodded. “I thought you had gotten lost.”

Leo grinned. “Like I would ever get lost. I’ve been in this forest for years, know it like the back of my hand.”

“Anything can happen in the dark,” Beatrice said ominously.

“That’s rather dark of you,” said Leo, raising his eyebrows.

“It’s true,” Beatrice shrugged. 

“Well, uh, you have fun up in that tree. I have to get home before my sister beats me up.”  
Beatrice nods without taking her gaze off of Leo. “Don’t get lost.”

Leo turned his back to Beatrice and began walking. “You know I won’t, Bee,” Leo called over his shoulder. This day was starting to weird him out.

_ _ _

“You did it again,” Agnes growled as Leo stepped into their house. 

Leo gulped, stepping back. “I didn’t mean to this time,” he raised his hands in the air as his sister advanced on him. “I hit my head and fainted!” he said desperately. 

Agnes frowned and grabbed Leo by the head, searching him for any cuts or bruises. “I bloody well don’t believe that!” she exclaimed. “Not a scratch on you!”

Harley, hearing the commotion, ran downstairs. “What’s going on? Is Leo home?” he raised his eyebrows at the sight before him.

Agnes turned her angry gaze to Leo’s twin. “Somebody better start explaining what’s going on here!” she let go of Leo’s head. “Leo’s been late twice in a row! Lily’s been having anxiety attacks, thinking he’s been murdered!”

Harley raised his hands, not unlike his brother. “I have nothing to do with this! I have no clue what’s going on,”

Leo moved closer to Harley, attempting to slowly escape upstairs. “Nothings going on!” he exclaimed. “It’s just a new job!”

Agnes, continuing to ignore Leo, continued her rant to Harley. “Leo doesn’t show up all night, and suddenly comes home saying that he hit his head and fainted! But there’s no mark on his head! How could he have fallen if there’s no evidence!”

“Well, maybe the bruise just hasn’t shown up yet!” Leo shouted, starting to get mad.

Upstairs, another door slammed open. Cole stormed down the stairs and glared at his siblings. “What the hell is going on here?! It’s just the morning, I’m trying to sleep!” his gaze turned over to Leo. Suddenly, a smirk spread across his freckled face. “Oh, Leo you’re in deep shit,”

Agnes glared up at her younger brother. “Watch your language!”

Cole scoffed at Agnes. “Oh, I’m so scared! What are you going to do, kick my ass?” he replied, cockily wiggling his arse.

Agnes’s face was starting to turn into a deep shade of red. “If you don’t shut up, I will!”

As his siblings fought, Leo turned his gaze to Harley. They nodded at each other and began to slowly make their way up the stairs away from their brother and sister. Thankfully, Agnes and Cole didn’t seem to notice them leaving. When the twins got to the safety of their room, Harkey turned to Leo. “Okay, what the fuck?”

Leo groaned. “Not you too!?”

Harley leaned against a wall, unimpressed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to attack you. I just want to know where you were.”

“I went to see the witch.” Leo decided he couldn’t lie to his twin either.

His twin choked in surprise. “The witch?!”

Leo nodded. “The witch.” Leo furrowed his eyebrows. “Though I’m not sure if he’s a witch or not,” he added as an afterthought.

Harley stepped closer to his brother. “You spoke to him?”

Leo nodded. “His name is Aster Wicket. He’s quite nice if I’m being honest here, though.”

“Did he seem witchy though?” he asked.

“I think so,” he said thoughtfully. 

Harley frowned in confusion. “You think so?”

Leo thought back to the small-time he shared with Aster Wicket and nodded. “I did fall and hit my head. But when I woke up, it didn’t hurt at all and there weren’t any marks. I think he might’ve had something to do with that.” Leo’s eyes widened. “The door also opened on its own!”

“That does sound pretty witchy,” Harley agreed.  
Leo frowned. “But he didn’t try to hurt me. He didn’t put me in a trace, he didn’t attack me… he just seems lonely.”

Before Leo could elaborate further, Agnes’s voice called out. “Leo! Your weird friends are here!”

Leo turned meaningfully to his brother. “I’ll tell you about it later,” he hurried down the stairs. Things had calmed down with Agnes since she didn’t look angry anymore. He stepped back outside and was met with Hazel, Ford, and Beatrice standing before him.

“Bee told us what happened,” Hazel said, pointing at Beatrice. 

Ford, who was looking very peeved, turned to Beatrice. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner? I thought he got kidnapped or something!” Ford turned back to Leo. “I was talking to you and you just left saying you’d be back! I stayed there for about an hour waiting for you to come back!”

Leo looked away guiltily. “I got… sidetracked.”

Hazel folded her arms over her chest, smirking. “Rather dumb of you to hit your head and faint in the woods, Leo.” Leo’s gaze flicker over to Beatrice, who apparently hadn’t told them the whole story. He was pretty glad she hadn’t told them about Aster. It felt wrong for some reason, telling Beatrice and Harley about Aster felt like he’d told a horrible secret.

Leo nodded hastily. “Yep, that’s me. Dumb…” he said lamely.

Ford frowned at that but shrugged anyway. “Well, we were going to the lighthouse, and we wanted to know if you were coming with us.”

Leo’s gaze flickered to Aster’s house in the distance before quickly flickering back to his friends. “Sure, yeah, let’s go,”

As the group made their way to the lighthouse, Leo’s thoughts kept drifting to Aster Wicket. He had gone to get answers, but all he got was more questions. He felt like he left too soon. It didn’t help that he was also stalking the poor teen for his job.

He was aware that his friends were speaking, but he couldn’t rip his thoughts from the supposed witch. He was jerked out of his thoughts as Ford placed a hand on his shoulder. He blinked at his friends. “Huh?” he said intelligently.  
Ford frowned, a worried look on his face. “I was asking if you were okay. You just stopped walking and kept staring off into the distance.”

Leo’s gaze shifted across his friend’s worried faces and stepped back. “I-I have to go.” he paused. “To work.” The looks on his friend’s faces just grew even more worried. “I’ll see you guys later,” he said. Not waiting for any responses, Leo turned around and dashed towards the hill in the distance.

_ _ _

Leo dashed up the stone steps and ran right into Aster. Aster let out a small yell of surprise as the tall blonde barreled into him, causing them both to fall over. Leo blinked in shock as he leaned over Aster before rolling off. “Sorry,” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. 

Aster sat up and peered curiously at the blonde. “Are you okay? Are you being chased?”

A blush of embarrassment flushed Leo’s face. “N-No, sorry, just wanted to see you.”

“To see me?” Aster repeated in a small voice.

Leo got up and reached his hand out to help the teen up. “I feel like I left in a hurry, and they seemed very rude since you saved me.”

Aster takes his hand and allows himself to be pulled onto his feet. “Do you want to come inside?” he pulled his hands close to his chest. “Have some tea?”

Leo nodded, his hand hovered awkwardly in the air where he had held Aster’s hand. “If that’s okay with you,”

Aster nodded very quickly and began leading them to his house. He sat Leo down at a table and began to brew tea. “Is your head still doing okay?”

Leo stared at the back of Aster’s head as he boiled the tea. “Still doesn’t hurt. The funny thing is, there aren’t any cuts or bruises at all.”

Leo could see that Aster was watching him from the corner of his eye. “Are you sure?” he asked uncertainly.

Leo nodded. “Yeah, my sister checked.”

Aster turned his head to meet Leo’s gaze. “You have a sister?”

Leo frowned at the obvious change of subject but went with it. “Yeah, I have three sisters and two brothers. One of my brothers is my twin.”

Aster’s gaze clouded with thought. “I don’t have any siblings,”

A grin spread across Leo’s face. “You should be grateful that you don’t,” his grin grew as he thought of his siblings. “All they do is bicker and nag you.”

Aster’s smile grew sad. “It would be much less lonely,” his smile disappeared altogether. “I’ve never had any friends either.”

Against his own will, his heart ached for the teen. It shouldn’t be doing that. Not when this very man could be his enemy. He couldn’t help it though, and he didn’t feel like he was in control of his body. “I can be your friend,”

Aster’s eyes widened in shock as he turned to completely face Leo. “You’d do that? With a freak like me?”

Leo gave up trying to control what he was saying. “Well, for the few hours I’ve known you, you haven’t seemed freakish at all.”

Aster stepped closer to Leo, the tea forgotten. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me,” he sounded like he was about to burst into tears.

The two teens stared at each other for a moment, but before either could say anything the door was being furiously knocked on. Startled, Leo glanced from the door to Aster. “Are you expecting any visitors?”

Aster frowned, shaking his head. “I don’t get visitors. Well, aside from you.”

Leo stepped up to a window that was near the door and peered through the curtains. To his immense surprise, he saw Elliot Quincy. Leo paled as Aster peered out the window too. “It’s my boss,” he said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Witchy witchy witchy witch

“That witch-hunters’ your mentor?” asked Aster as Mr Quincy proceeded to pound on the door. 

“I-I’ll tell you about it later, just hide!” Aster nodded and ran up the twisting staircase that led upstairs. Leo ran forward once Aster was gone and pulled the door open.

Mr Quincy nearly fell into the house, Leo had to seize him by the shoulders to steady him. Mr Quincy’s eyes went through a series of emotions. First, there was surprise, then there was anger, and lastly, there was suspicion. “What’re you doin’ here?” he demanded, stalking forward.

“I-I went to check the house. I wanted to see if the witch-”

Mr Quincy interrupted Leo before he could finish. “-Are ye a shape-shifter?!” he took another step onward, startling Leo.

Leo lifted his hands to his chest. “What? No!” he blurted.

Mr Quincy kept advancing, thrusting his lantern at him. “What’s yer name, boy?!” he commanded.

“L-Leo Jaxton, sir!” he answered. Mr Quincy didn’t know him well enough to interrogate him, so all he could do was ask the obvious questions, nothing personal.

“What’s my name?!” asked Mr Quincy.

“Mr Quincy, sir!” Leo answered uncertainty.

“Full name!” Mr Quincy roared.

“Elliot Quincy! I’m real, sir!” he was beginning to get annoyed.

Mr Quincy lowered his lantern. “What’re ya doin’ here, lad?”

“I told you, I wanted to see the witch for myself!” Leo’s thoughts wandered back to Aster, who was hiding upstairs. “I checked around, no one’s here.”

Mr Quincy squinted at the teen and shifted his glance to the steaming tea on the stove. “You’re making tea?”

Leo nodded hastily. “I got thirsty,” he glanced back at the infusion. “And there were supplies.”

Mr Quincy frowned. “Well, if there are supplies here someone might still live here. They might just not be home at the moment.” Mr Quincy nodded to himself. “I’ll leave for now. You best be leaving too, lad.”

Leo wanted him to leave. “Don’t worry, I will, sir.”

Mr Quincy stepped out, about to shut the door when he turned back to Leo. “And I told you to drop the ‘Mr’ and ‘sir’, it makes me feel old.”

Leo nodded as Mr Quincy finally shut the door. Once he was sure that the man was gone, he turned his attention to the stairs. “Aster, he’s gone, you can come down now!” he called up.

After a minute or so, the black-haired teen tentatively made his way down the stairs, stopping near the bottom. “You’re a witch-hunter,” Aster affirmed.

Leo felt moderately guilty. “I think so, I’m not really sure how to feel about it myself.” he looked up at Aster. “Don’t worry, though. I don’t think that you’re a witch. You’re too sweet.” 

Aster edged farther up the stairs, away from Leo. “If I said I was a witch would you kill me?” he questioned.

Leo was pretty damn sure he wouldn’t be able to hurt someone, witch or not. People have told him his whole life that witches were evil, and wanted to hurt him, but he didn’t feel any desire to hurt them. Leo shook his head, “No, I don’t think I could,”

Aster’s face softened and he finished his journey down the staircase. “You’re kind as well,” he finally said, standing next to Leo.

Leo looked away, a faint blush of embarrassment colouring his face. “It just doesn’t seem like the right thing to do.”  
Leo sat back down at the table while Aster frantically removed the tea from the heat. He could tell that the tea was very hot, judging from the way Aster nearly drops it and slams it down on the table. Leo’s suspicions were confirmed as Aster slumped down in the chair, indicating to the teakettle “Careful, it’s hot.”

“I suppose so,” Leo agreed.

Aster observed Leo thoughtfully as he emptied the steaming tea into two mugs. “I saw you and that man yesterday before you fell.”

“Y-You did?” he sputtered.

Aster smiled and nodded. “You aren’t very good at hiding,”

“Sorry, Mr Quincy wanted to know if you were a witch, so I came with,” Leo said, abruptly feeling doubtful about the whole witch-hunting thing.

Aster’s face grew ashen. “He’s after me?”

Leo frowned. “You’ll be fine, it’s not like you’re actually a witch,” he said, attempting to soothe Aster’s nerves. Aster only grew paler. Leo’s eyes widened. “You’re not a witch, are you?” he nearly pleaded. He’d just met Aster, but it felt like he’d known him for ages. He didn’t want him to be executed.

Aster stood up abruptly, provoking his tea to spill over and splash all over his hands. Leo sprang up to help as Aster let out a yell of agony as the scorching water drenched his pale hands, turning them an inflamed red. Leo yanked a cloth from the table and began to wipe the water off Aster’s hands. As Leo proceeded to fuss over his hands, Aster stopped him “Watch,” he simply said.

Leo didn’t want to, but he stood back. Aster clamped his eyes shut in hard concentration, his shaking hands spread out before him. Leo watched in awe as Aster’s hands changed. The blisters that covered his hands grew smaller and smaller until they vanished entirely. The once red skin became pale once more. Aster opened his eyes and gently flexed his hands. Leo crumpled down on the floor next to him. “So you are a witch,” he wheezed.

Aster nodded wordlessly.

Leo seized Aster’s newly healed hands and inspected them. “Is this how you healed my head?”

Aster nodded again and peered at Leo, who was still frantically examining his hands. “Aren’t you afraid? I’m a witch.”

Leo gave the witch a crooked smile. “I’m surprising myself how calm I’m acting.” In truth, Leo was bloody panicking. Just not out loud. His new friend was a witch. The kind stranger who healed him was in actuality, a witch.

Their eyes met, understanding burning in them. “You’re a witch-hunter,”

Leo dubiously noticed that he was still clutching Aster’s hands. “You’re a witch,” he swallowed heavily.

A heavy silence fell over the two. “What are you going to do?” Aster asked.

Leo’s face hardens with determination. “I can’t turn you in, that’s not what friends do.” Leo felt a warmth in his chest as a small smile formed on Aster’s face.

“What are we going to do about your mentor?” Aster asked the question that Leo had been hoping to avoid. He had no clue on how he was supposed to fool an expert witch-hunter.

Leo suddenly straightened up. “I can try and throw him off!” he yelled in excitement, causing Aster to jump beside him.

“How do you mean?” 

Leo reached down and grabbed the witch’s hands again in excitement. “I can continue to investigate you, but tell Mr Quincy that you’re not a witch!”

“It might work,” Aster amended. “But how are you going to convince him that I’m not a witch?”

“I’ll introduce you to my friends,” Leo proclaimed.

Aster raised his eyebrows. “How are you going to convince your friends that I’m not a witch?”

Leo smirked and gently lifted the pointed hat off the witch’s head. “Well, we can start by getting rid of the obvious,”

Aster looked at his hat. “I can’t do much about my eyes,”

Leo shook his head. “It’s just eyes, they’re not that suspicious.”

_ _ _

Ford and Hazel pulled Leo aside. “Did you see his eyes?” Ford asked, his eyes shifting worriedly to the witch sitting at his table.

Apparently, eyes were that suspicious. Leo scoffed at them, trying his best to seem nonchalant. “Come on, they’re just eyes.”

Hazel frowned, squinting at her friend. “Says the witch-hunter. Weren’t you the one who said that witches have green eyes in the first place?”

Leo frowned at his two friends. “Well, I was wrong. Aster is normal, I swear.” He gazed at Aster from the corner of his eye, who was awkwardly sitting with Beatrice.

Ford was obviously still suspicious. “Whatever you say, Leo,”

Hazel nodded, her eyes still squinted. She too was decidedly still suspicious too.

Leo attempted to give them a reassuring smile, but it just came out as a grimace. He walked back and sat back down with Aster, who was looking a bit pale and kept glancing around.

Hazel leaned forward and looked Aster up and down. “So… Aster, what do you like to do?”

Aster began to nervously scratch his arm. “I like to garden,” he mumbled.

Ford leaned closer too. “What’s your opinion on the Witch-of-the-Hill?” Ford interrogated.

Leo felt Aster stiffen beside him. Leo glared at Hazel and Ford. “Why are you guys being so weird?”

Hazel glares back at him. “Why are you being so weird?” he snarls.

Ford nods, folding his arms over his chest. “You get a new job, and then you keep disappearing. You’ve been acting really strange these past days,”

Beatrice has a worried look on her face. “We’re worried about you, Leo.”  
Leo lets out a growl of frustration. “Come on, Bee, I’m not acting weird.”

Hazel leans forward further. “Yes, you are!” She's yelling now. “Not only have you been acting strangely, now you brought a stranger, a really strange one!” 

Aster, uncomfortable in the tense mood grabs Leo’s arm. “We should leave,” he whispers in his ear.

Ford stands up from the table and points at Aster. “No! Where are you going to now?!” Aster froze like a deer caught in headlights. Ford turned back to Ford. “How long have you known this him? This is the first time I’ve met him and you’re acting like you’ve known each other for years!”

“It’s none of your business!” Leo growls, his hands clenched into fists.

Beatrice stood up and placed a hand on Ford’s shoulder. “Guys, we need to stop fighting,”

Ford shakes Beatrice’s hand off his shoulder. “Stay out of this, Bee!”

Aster tightened his grip on Leo, holding him back from Ford and Hazel. “Leo, come one. We should just go.” he pulled him back gently. “They have every right to be suspicious.”

As Aster dragged Leo away, Hazel called after them. “You better not think this is over, Leo!” she shouted.

Leo followed Aster into the forest, away from the others. “This isn’t working,” Aster said once they were alone.

Leo dragged a hand down his face. “I don’t know what’s gotten into them!” He felt frustrated and stressed.

“Well, from what I heard from your friends, you’re acting differently as well.” Aster paused meaningfully. “I haven’t known you for long, but I know that this isn’t you.”

Leo collapsed against a nearby tree. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me either,” he sighed again. “I think it’s the stress.” he looked over at Aster. “Having a witch friend is stressful.”

Aster smiled sympathetically. “It’s stressful being one. There’s always the threat of being accused and suddenly placed upon a burning stake.”

If Aster had said that to help calm Leo’s nerves, it wasn’t working. “I won’t let them kill you!” he shouted loudly. Aster was his friend, and he’d be damned if he died.

Aster placed his hand back on Leo’s arm. “I’ll be fine,” he patted him reassuringly. “I’ve survived for seventeen years, I think I can survive a few more,”

Leo smiled. “We’re the same age.”

Aster smiled back. “We are?”

Leo nodded. “I thought you looked around my age.”

The tense atmosphere was lifted slightly. The two sat in silence, listening to the twittering birds above.

“Can I ask you a stupid question?” Leo asked.

“Sure,” Aster shrugged.

“What else can you do? Can you fly on a broom? Do you have a black cat? Where are your parents? Can anyone be a witch? Do you brew potions? Do you have any other friends?” he blurted all the questions out in what sounded like gibberish.

Aster raised his eyebrows. “That’s a lot of questions.” He smiled again. “I’ll try my best to answer them, but you might have to ask them slower.”

“Okay,” Leo nodded to himself. “I can do that,” Leo thought for a moment. “Can you fly on a broom?”

“No? Where did you get that idea from?” Aster snorted.

Leo shrugged embarrassed. “Well, I’ve heard a lot of things about witches, and I’ve heard that they have pointy hats and fly on brooms.”

Aster looked up at the trees. “Most witches usually focus on a certain type of magic. The magic I use is mostly healing and plant life.”

“Is that why you like to garden?”

Aster nodded. “They speak to me, the plants.” He smiled to himself. “Makes everything less lonely.”

Leo looked up at the trees surrounding them. “Plants can speak? What are they saying?”

Aster closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. “It’s hard to focus on one certain tree, but they’re murmuring softly to each other. Telling stories.” Aster opens his eyes and takes Leo’s hands into his own. “I can also do this,” Leo looked down at Aster’s palms in suspense. Then, a small green stem sprouted. It twisted up bloomed into an orange marigold. When the flower finished growing, Aster tenderly placed it into Leo’s hands.

“That was beautiful,” Leo gasped, staring down at the marigold.

“Any more questions?” Aster asked.

Leo nodded, still gazing down at the marigold. “Where are your parents?”

When Leo looked up at his friend, Aster’s eyes were distant. “They weren’t as lucky as I am,” I simply said. That was all Leo needed.

Leo nodded sadly. “I lost my parents when I was seven.” His thoughts wandered to Hazel. “My friend Hazel, the ginger ones, parents disappeared when she was six.” He momentarily forgot why he was mad at his friends.

“What a tragic time to be kids,” Aster murmured sadly.

“Do you have any other friends?” Leo asked.

Aster shook his head. “No, just you and the plants.”

The rumours that a witch lived on the hill had been around for as long as Leo could remember. Assuming Aster had been up there the whole time, it must’ve been such a lonely existence. “Aren’t you lonely?”

Aster closed his eyes and leaned his head against the trunk of a tree. “I’ve never really thought about it that way. I guess you could say that I’m lonely.”

Leo placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I won’t let you be lonely anymore,” Leo pushed himself from the forest floor, marigold tucked into his pocket. He grabbed Aster’s hand and pulled him up with him. “We should get back to your house if I’m going to meet my mentor there later.”  
_ _ _

“Come on, try again,” Leo encouraged.

“I don’t think this is going to work, Leo,” Aster responded.

“Just try,” Leo insisted.

Aster closed his eyes and scrunched his face up. Leo thought it was adorable. After a few moments, Aster opened his eyes. They were still a lovely green colour. “It didn’t work, try again.”

Aster made a disappointed noise and scrunched up his face again. This time, various species of flowers sprouted amongst his hair with effort. “No, stop, you’re just growing flowers again.” 

Aster was on his twelfth attempt to change his eye colour. On his fourth attempt he’d managed to grow flowers, but no eye colour change. They had a rather colourful pile of flowers off to the side though.

Aster ran his hand through his hair, causing more than a dozen loose flowers to tumble down onto the floor. “I don’t think this is going to work, we’re going to have to try something else.”

Leo looked at the large pile of flowers, a hopeless feeling settled into his gut. If Leo’s friends weren’t going to overlook green eyes, Elliot Quincy definitely wasn’t going to. “Please, you have to keep trying,” He shoved the flowers aside to get closer to the witch. “Just concentrate very hard.”

Aster nodded and tried again. This time, when he opened his eyes, they weren’t the familiar green eyes, they were light brown, but still had a small amount of green in them. Aster blinked. “Did it work?”

Leo shrugged. “They changed, but there’s still some green in them. They’re hazel now.”

Aster brings a hand up by his eyes. “You don’t think that counts, right?”

Leo racked his brain for any information on hazel eyes that Mr Quincy or one of his books had told him. He came out empty-handed. “I don’t think anyone’s ever mentioned hazel eyes being ‘witchy’,” Leo nodded to himself. “Yeah, you’re probably fine.”

“That’s good,” Aster said. “I don’t think I’d be able to that again,”

Leo turned to the large pile of flowers on the ground. “What are we going to do about these?”

Aster turned his attention to the flowers as well. “We could toss them into the field with the other flowers,” Aster suggested.

Leo peered out the window at the field of marigolds. “That wouldn’t work,” he turned back to the pile, which was filled with hundreds of species of different flowers. “They’re not the same kind, wouldn’t that be suspicious?”

Aster looked at the pile sadly. “I can’t just get rid of them, they’re mine.” He began to bunch the pile into his arms. “We could put them in the back. Your mentor probably won’t look back there, it’s too close to the edge of the cliff.”

Leo nodded and helped Aster carry the plants. As the front door, once again, magically opened on its own Leo was led around the back of the house. Aster was right, the back was, indeed, right at the edge of the cliff. He looked down the edge at the black crashing waves of the ocean. If someone were to fall down the edge, they would certainly die.

The flowers were tossed around until there were none left in their arms. Aster then knelt down in the grass and placed his palms down in the dirt. The flowers that were once loose on top of the grass suddenly grew roots and anchored themselves into the ground with the marigolds.

Leo would never get used to seeing magic.

When Aster finished, he stood up and grabbed Leo’s arm. “We should get away from the edge before one of us falls,”

As the two teens made their way to the front of the house, Leo let go of Aster’s arm and went towards the stone steps. “Mr Quincy will probably be on his way now,” Leo said, looking up at the slowly setting sun. “I should go down there and wait for him.”

Aster nodded and took a step to the front door. “That would be a good idea,”

Leo began to make his way down the steps. “Remember the plan! Don’t wear the hat and try your best to act not-witchy!” He called over his shoulder.

“I will,” Aster promised.

“See you in a bit,” Leo answered with a smile.

_ _ _

Leo had come down at the right time. After about a minute of standing around at the bottom of the cliff, Elliot Quincy’s silhouette appeared in the distance. Unlike the first few times he’d gotten to be with Elliot Quincy, where he was excited and curious, he now felt knots in his stomach and tense. “Hullo, my boy!” Mr Quincy greeted.

“Quincy,” Leo simply replied.

Mr Quincy came up to Leo and ruffled his hair. “Glad ye finally dropped the whole ‘sir’ thing!”

Leo reeled away from the man’s hand, running a hand through his hair to fix it. Mr Quincy didn’t seem to notice.

Mr Quincy leaned forward, a large grin of his wrinkled face. “Today, we’re going to speak with the witch,” his brown eyes burned into Leo’s blue ones.

“Supposed witch,” Leo corrected.

Mr Quincy simply waved him off. “Come on, Jaxton! Follow me, I’ll go up first,”

Leo stayed silent as he followed his mentor up the stone stairs. The sun had now sunken so low that he couldn’t see it anymore. Mr Quincy walked up to Aster’s door and banged on it.

After a moment the door opened (thankfully not on its own this time) and Aster stood there. “Hullo,” he greeted.

Mr Quincy looked Aster up and down, his focus landing on Aster’s now hazel eyes. “Hullo, lad, we’re here to investigate you, as we’ve received many accusations of witchcraft.”

Aster’s eyes shifted to Leo. “Please, come in,” he said, stepping back.

Mr Quincy dragged Leo in with him. Leo sat down at the table as Mr Quincy looked around the room. “We saw you yesterday wearing a witch hat,” he stated casually. 

Aster’s eyes trailed to his hat, which was hanging on the staircase bannister. “It’s a sun hat,” he said. “Protects your head from the sun.”

It had, indeed, been sunny that day, so it made sense that he had worn a sunhat. Mr Quincy seemed to accept that too.

“Does anyone else live here too?” Mr Quincy asked, his eyes trailing up the stairs.

Aster shook his head. “No, it’s just me.”

Mr Quincy’s eyebrows furrowed. “You look like a young bloke. What about yer’ parents?” 

Aster grew slightly pale. “They’ve been dead since I was ten, sir.”

Leo had thought Mr Quincy would back off after that, but his expression only hardened. “How’d they perish?”

Aster began to nervously fiddle with the bottom of his shirt. “They drowned, sir.”

Mr Quincy stepped closer to the witch, peering down into his eyes. “What’s your name, boy?”

Aster held his gaze. “Aster Wicket, sir.”

Mr Quincy narrows his eyes and steps back. Aster and Leo share a glance as Mr Quincy takes one more look around. With one last glare at Aster, Mr Quincy opened the front door and beckoned Leo. “Come on, boy.”

“Do you think he’s a witch, sir?” Leo asked hopefully. He really needed their plan to work.

Mr Quincy grumbled something under his breath and walked away. Leo had no clue what that was supposed to mean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gay.

“Oh, look at that. He’s actually here on time.” Leo was greeted by his sister’s mocking voice.

Leo didn’t have it in him to mock Agnes back. He was almost shaking he was so nervous. Did it work? Did they fool Elliot Quincy? Was Aster okay? “I’m going to bed.” he decided to say.

Leo tried to walk past her, but she grabbed his shoulder. “Leo? Are you okay?” She now had a worried look on her face, rather than a smug one.

Leo pulled away from her grip. “I’m fine,” He wasn’t lying. He was fine. But was Aster? Before Agnes could stop him again, he went up the stairs and to his room.

When he opened the door, he was met with a Harley sitting on his bed and waiting for him. When Harley saw Leo he stood up. “Tell me about the witch!” he exclaimed excitedly.

Leo felt a protective feeling rise in his chest. Harley couldn’t know about Aster. What if he found out? What if he told Mr Quincy about him and Aster? 

Leo frowned at his twin and sat on his bed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Harley.”

Harley’s smile dropped. “What are you talking about? You said you met the witch earlier.”

Leo reached for the lamp and turned it off. “Maybe you were dreaming,” Leo suggested. “I’ve never met any witch before.” and without waiting for his brother’s response, he slid under and quilt and let the darkness wash over him.

_ _ _

When Leo opened his eyes he was met with a bright cloudless sky. He sat up disoriented before he realized he was laying in a large field of marigolds. He stood up so fast that the blood rushed to his head, almost making him fall over. He saw a figure laying down in the flowers and rushed to it.  
He grabbed Aster’s unconscious body by the shoulders and gently shook him awake. Aster made a few disgruntled noises before opening his eyes, which were now green again. “Leo?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. His voice sounded dream-like and echoey.

Leo knelt next to the witch. “I think we’re sharing a dream again,”

Aster, now awake, gazed around at their surroundings. “Yes, I think we are,” he agreed nodding his head.

They sat there for a moment, looking at the sky. “Do you think it worked?” Aster asked eventually in a small voice.

Leo shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know, he didn’t say anything after we left.” He let out a sigh of frustration. “He just mumbled something and walked away!”

Aster let out a shuddery breath. “My parents died in witch trials. They drowned.” Aster’s shoulders shook a bit. “What if Elliot Quincy knows about that? He knows my name, what if he searches it up?”

Leo wrapped his arm around Aster’s shoulders and pulled him protectively into his side. “I won’t let him kill you,” he promised. “I’ll ask him when I wake up.” Leo was fully prepared to bust into the man’s house in the dead of night for answers.

Aster rested his head on Leo’s shoulder. “I’m glad we’re friends. I just met you, but it feels like it’s been forever,”

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Leo agreed. “I feel the same way.”

And then everything around them grew fuzzy. It felt like the feeling you get when a limb falls asleep, or if you stand up too fast. Aster perked up. “We’re waking up,”

Leo turned to Aster as the fuzziness submerged them. “I’ll ask Quincy,”

“Come see me when you're done,” Came Aster’s reply.

_ _ _

Leo jolted up with a gasp, nearly falling out of bed. He steadied himself and looked out the window. It was still dark out, the moon high in the sky. He quietly opened his door and snuck downstairs. Everyone else in the house was asleep, so there was no one to stop him from leaving.

Leo quickly stalked down the streets towards his mentor’s house. As he approached, he could see that the lights were on. Leo thought it was a bit strange that someone was up at this time, but then remember that he himself was up too. He reached the door and knocked softly on it. When it opened, Leo came face to face with Mr Quincy. His grey eyes were dull and tired, his greyed auburn hair was a mess, and his clothes were wrinkled.

He looked Leo up and down. “What are ye doin’ here?” he grumbled, his voice musky with tiredness.

Leo suddenly felt awkward. He hadn’t planned how he was going to ask him. “Uh,” he said intelligently.

“Come on, boy! Spit it out,” his mentor growled.

“D-Do you think that Aster’s a witch?” he stuttered out.

Mr Quincy squinted his eyes. “Aster?” he asked. His mentor didn’t pay attention to Aster’s first name.

“The guy you interrogated today.” Leo tried.

His mentor’s eyes lit up with comprehension. “Ah, Wicket,” 

Leo nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.” He was starting to get impatient. “Is he a witch or not?”

“That’s what I’m researching.” That wasn’t the answer Leo wanted. “I need more information, but otherwise, he’s pretty damn suspicious.” Leo’s stomach dropped.

“How come?” Leo asked desperately.

“Did you see how nervous he was acting? Did you see all of the plants and herbs? He could be practising witchcraft with those!”

“O-Okay,” Leo said. He had been so focused on fixing Aster’s appearance that he hadn’t paid attention to the house.

His mentor waved him off. “Well, if that’s all you needed, ye should probably be getting your arse home. And don’t come tomorrow, I’m going to use that time for research.” He added.

Leo nodded, but before he could say anything, the door was slammed in his face. “Goodbye,” he muttered to himself.

_ _ _

Leo ran the whole way to Aster’s hill. He didn’t want to waste any time. They still had time to fix the rest of the house Mr Quincy hadn’t seen yet. He stumbled up the steps, out of breath. When he reached the door, it swung open in greeting. He stumbled in and paused to catch his breath. “Aster?” he called.

“I’m upstairs,” his friend's voice called ominously.

He hesitated before travelling up the stairs. He’d only seen the first floor, so he was curious about what the top floor looked like. When he reached the top of the stairs he was not disappointed (Though he didn’t think he could be disappointed with Aster). The top floor was dome-shaped and, like the rest of the house, was made of wood. The thing that caught his eye was the ceiling. It was painted black and covered with paintings of stars and constellations.

“Do you like them?” The sound of Aster’s voice startled him, making him flinch back. 

Once Leo had recovered, he smiled at the witch. “Yes, it’s beautiful,” he said, as he continued to marvel at the painting.

Aster, who had been sitting on his bed, got up and stood next to Leo. “Did you talk to your mentor?”

The happy mood that was hanging over the two seconds ago quickly turned to tension. Leo nodded slowly. “Yeah, I spoke to him.”

Aster anxiously brought his hands up to his chest. “What did he say?”

Leo shook his head. “He said he’s researching.” Leo winced as the colour drained from Aster’s face. “But that’s good! We still have time to convince him!” he added quickly.

A bit of Aster’s colour returned, but he was still pretty pale. “What if we can’t convince him?” Aster asked. Leo was certain that Aster knew what would happen very well.

“Don’t make me say it,” Leo said.

“Sorry,” Aster replied. “I’m just nervous.” Aster left Leo’s side and sat on his bed.

“Me too,” Leo said, joining Aster on the bed. “Today’s just been very stressful,” Leo confessed.

Aster let out a soft snort of laughter. “That’s an understatement.”

Leo nodded. “It is.” he sighed. “Today has been shit.”

Leo saw Aster smile from the corner of his eye. “Now that’s the spirit!”

“Every time I swear in front of my sister she whacks me on the head.” Leo smiled to himself. 

Aster looked at him curiously. “What’s your sister’s name?”

Leo laid down on his side and smiled at Aster. “My oldest sister, the one who whacks me, name is Agnes. My oldest brother’s name is Cole. My second youngest sister’s name is Lily. And my twin’s name is Harley.” Leo felt a twinge of guilt as he mentioned Harley. He felt bad for lashing out at him. He’d have to fix it later on.

“It’s strange,” Aster said, wistfully. “I can’t imagine sharing a house with someone else,”

“You get used to it after a while,” Leo reasoned.

“I’m sorry your friends got mad,” Aster said suddenly.

Leo frowned. “Don’t worry, it happens all of the time.” He smiled, thinking about Hazel. “Hazel, the red-head, gets mad all the time. But she doesn’t stay that way for long. They’re all just paranoid with all that’s happening.”

Understanding shone in Aster’s eyes. “I would be scared too. I am scared.” He added,

Leo grabbed onto Aster’s hand and gently squeezed it. “Don’t be scared,” He smiled brightly at his friend. “You have me protecting you,”

Aster’s face dropped. “What if your mentor finds out about you helping a witch? Will you be punished too?”

Leo held tighter to the witch’s hand. “I haven’t given it much thought,” his face hardens. “But as I said, it’s not going to happen.”

Aster nodded, but he still looked uncertain. “Promise me that if I get found out you won’t try to do anything stupid?” He looked down at their joined hands. “It’s bad enough if I were killed, but it would be worse if they killed you too.”

“That’s a lot to promise,” Leo said.

“Promise me,” Aster repeated.

Leo shook his head. “I don’t think I can promise you that.”

Aster grasped Leo’s free hand. “Think about your friends. Think about your family. You wouldn’t give that up for some random witch you’ve only just met.” Aster nearly begged.

Leo squeezed Aster’s hands harder. “You’re my friend.” He protested.

Aster flopped down on the bed next to Leo. “Have you always lived here?” Aster changed the subject.

The subject change was gladly accepted. Leo laid down next to Aster. “No,” he said. “I used to live further north. We moved after my parents died.” 

“I’ve always lived here,” Aster said. “I’ve never really thought about moving before,” He shifted his gaze to the painted ceiling. “I don’t know where I’d go.”

“It is pretty nice here,” Leo agreed. “Much better than where I used to live,” he shuddered at the remembrance of it. “There was a lot of sickness where I was.”

“Is that how your parents died?” Aster turned on his side to face Leo.

Leo made a noncommittal noise and stared at the ceiling.  
“C’mon,” Aster continued. “You know how my parents died, it’s only fair that you tell me how yours died.” Aster amended.

Aster did have a point. “They got sick,” He said.

Aster nodded sympathetically. “I’m sorry,”

“I’m sorry your parents got caught,” Leo replied.

The two teens laid on their sides so they faced each other. “When did you change your eyes back?” he asked, looking deeply in the green depths.

Aster blinked, as though reminding himself that he still had eyes. “I changed them back right after you and your mentor left. They started to give me a headache once it had been a few minutes.”

Leo frowned. “Is your head okay now?” He didn’t want his friend to hurt.

Aster nodded softly. “It went away a while ago,”

“Can’t you heal yourself?” Leo asked, glancing down at Aster’s hand, which were still grasped in his own.

Aster’s gaze drifted back to his hand too. “I can, but I’m not very good at it. It’s easier to heal others.”

“Can you get better at it?” It didn’t seem very fair that Aster could heal others but not himself.

Aster grimaced a bit. “Yeah, I can get better at it. But it would involve me hurting myself so I can practice.”

That made it worse, but it did make sense. “So you have to hurt yourself to get better at it?”

Aster nodded. “I can’t heal myself if there’s nothing to heal,” He reasoned.

“That does make sense,” Leo agreed.

Leo could feel his eyes starting to droop. And, from the looks of it, so were Aster’s. Leo vaguely noted that he should probably go back home now, but he didn’t want to move.

Leo welcomed the darkness of sleep as it consumed him.

_ _ _

Leo dreamed he was laying in his mother’s arms on a warm summer evening. Her flowery scent washed over him. There weren’t any annoying siblings in the background. Just her soft humming.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People get rained on.

Leo woke up in an unfamiliar bed. As he laid there with his eyes closed, he tried to remember why he was in someone else’s bed, but he could figure out a reason. Had he been kidnapped? Had he sleepwalked? Was he in one of his sibling’s beds?

All of his confusion was lifted once he opened his eyes. He was laying on top of a soft quilt and the room smelt like plants and herbs. Inches away from his face laid Aster. Leo’s breath hitched in surprise at the sight of the witch. He then remembered what he had been doing there.

He slowly sat up and moved his legs off of the bed. He tried to stand up when he realized his and Aster’s hands were still connected. He turned his attention to their hands and gently pried Aster’s fingers from his.

He finished getting off of the bed without waking Aster. He looked around at his surroundings. Leo didn’t get a good look at Aster’s house last night, he was too caught up talking. The painted ceiling looked even better in the light now that he could see it better. He wondered how long it took to paint it, that was something he’d have to ask when Aster woke up.

Leo cringed slightly as he saw a large shelf full of herbs. That was something they were going to have to hide. He traced his finger across the shelf, looking at all of the plants. He turned his head to the next shelf. This shelf was crammed with books all the way from the top shelf to the bottom. On some of the shelves, books were resting on top of other books because they wouldn’t fit. Leo peered curiously at the titles. Most of the books were about plants, herbs, medicine, and such.

While he continued to search the room, Leo heard mumbling behind him. He startled a little, nearly dropping the book he was holding, he looked over at the lump on the bed that was Aster. He approached carefully, trying to make the least noise possible and checked on his friend.

“Aster?” He asked, maybe he was waking up.

The only response Leo got was Aster shifting on the bed.

Satisfied with his search of the room, Leo gave one last look at Aster before heading downstairs. The first floor looked peaceful. As peaceful as it looked, it felt barren and empty without Aster. It felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there. As though the emptiness of the house summoned him (had it?) Aster stumbled down the stairs behind him.

“You’re still here?” He asked sleepily, stumbling towards Leo.

Leo turned to his friend. “Yeah, I’m looking around for witchy things.”

Aster frowned. “Witchy things?” he squinted his eyes. “That’s a strange word,”

Leo shrugged. “Well, how would you describe it?”

Aster’s face scrunched up in thought. “...Witchy,” he said. His face scrunched further. “Spooky?” he suggested.

Leo shook his head. “I wouldn’t call it spooky.” He glanced around at the house. “It’s cosier than anything, not spooky at all.”

Aster nodded along tiredly. “You never went home,”

A flustered blush spreads across Leo’s face. “Yeah, sorry, I fell asleep.”

“That’s fine,” Aster waved him off.

“I poked around your house,” He said. “We have to get rid of anything that looks suspicious.”

The witch frowned. “What if I don’t want to get rid of them?”

Leo let out a sigh of sympathy. “Is it worth dying over?”

Aster fiddled nervously with his sleeves and looked away.

“Have you ever been to the lighthouse?” Leo asked.

“No,” Aster looked back at him curiously

Leo grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the door. “Come on, I want to show you,” He pulled him eagerly.

“Okay,” Aster agreed, grabbing his hat.

Leo frowned and pushed the hat back. “Aster, you can’t wear that hat out there, they’d hang you on the spot.”

Aster reluctantly put the hat back. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I’m just used to bringing it with me.”

“It’s fine,” Leo pulled them outside.

_ _ _

It was not a nice day outside. The sky was covered in a thick blanket of grey clouds, the winds were strong enough to sway the trees, and the rain was pelting down on them.

“This was a bad idea,” Aster remarked.

“Come on,” Leo protested against the blowing winds. “We’re almost there!” he shouted as he dragged Aster along.

Aster, who was facing the other way attempting to avoid the wind, gripped Leo’s arm hard. “It’s a miracle we even got down the steps without dying,” he lets out a chuckle. “It’s a miracle that we didn’t get blown off the mountain.”

Leo smiled as the lighthouse came into sight. “It’s right there, just a bit further!” He encouraged Aster as they struggled against the rain.

When they got to the heavy metal door of the lighthouse, it nearly slammed into their faces. “Oh!” Aster gasped, as they dodged the heavy door.

Leo pulled them both inside and the door slammed shut behind them. “That’s happened before,” Leo confessed sheepishly.

“Huh?” Aster asked as he shook the rain from his hair.

Leo began to try and dry his hair too. “The door,” he gestured vaguely behind him. He let out a quiet snort. “It’s a funny story actually,”

Aster perked up and looked back at the rusty metal door. “Tell me,”

“The first time me and Ford, the brown-haired one, went in here it was storming, not unlike today. We were trying to find shelter from the rain and saw this abandoned lighthouse in the distance. When we got the door open, the wind was so strong that it slammed into Ford’s head.” He laughed at the memory.

Aster’s face fell. “Was he okay?” It made Leo feel all fuzzy inside that Aster felt such concern for someone he barely knew.

Leo nodded reassuringly. “Oh yes, he was fine!” he laughed more. “He was just a bit stunned.”

Aster relaxed. “Oh, that’s good.” he looked at the door. “That door looks like it could really hurt someone if the force was strong enough.”

Leo looked thoughtfully at the door too. “Yeah, it probably would.” Leo grasped Aster’s hand in his and led him away from the door. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

Aster nodded and let himself be guided up the spiralling steps to the top. “We probably should’ve come on a nicer day…” Aster sighed remorsefully as they reached the top. They sat down on the floor in front of the large windows.

“Yeah, we probably should’ve.” They sat and watched as heavy rain beat against the large window, the sky was grey from the clouds. Not a speck of sunlight shone through.

“I like the rain,” Aster said after a while.

Leo looked at the rain thoughtfully. “I prefer the sun.” He turned to his friend. “But rain isn’t that bad,” he reflected.

Aster hugged his knees to his chest. “I like the smell of it. It reminds me of my childhood.” he didn’t elaborate further.

“Did you spend a lot of time in the rain?” Leo probed.

Aster’s face became bittersweet, his eyes glazed over in recollection. “My father used to have a ship. We would sail and catch fish.”

Leo stayed quiet and listened.

“My mum came along sometimes too, but not often. She didn’t like the ocean, didn’t trust it.” Aster stared harder at the rain. “One time, we got caught in an enormous storm. Him and I were stranded in the centre of the sea during it.” his grin expanded. “It was one of the scariest moments in my life to date.”  
Leo gently placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “What did you do about it?”

Aster clasped his knees tighter to his chest. “We had to wait it out.” his gaze became distant again. “The boat nearly tipped over twice.”

Leo shuddered thinking about it. Of all of the ways someone could die, drowning wouldn’t be his first pick. Before Leo could say more to comfort his friend, the loud bang of the lighthouse door being swung opened reverberated through the tower. Aster sat up straight and shared a look with Leo. The two of them gingerly got up and peered down the staircase at the visitors. To Leo’s surprise, he was met with the sight of his friends, Hazel, Ford, and Bee. Conflicted, Leo glanced over at Aster. “What should we do?”

Aster hummed quietly in thought, eyeing the trio beneath them. “They wouldn’t hurt you, would they?”

“I don’t think they’d hurt anyone,” he scoffed. “... Well, okay, I guess Hazel has hurt people before, but I don’t think she’d hurt us.”

“She’s injured people?” Aster probed.

Leo nodded. “We became friends because she threw a stone at my head.”

The witch grimaced. “Why did she do that?”

“She mistook I was someone else.” Leo shrugged. “We should go say hello. Might as well just get over it.” Leo began the descent down the stairs, Aster not far behind.

Hazel noticed them first. “Oh,” she said. “You two are here.” her face was deliberately vague, making Leo unable to gauge her mood.

Leo’s gaze flickered over his friends. “Yeah,” he said. “So, uh, what are you guys doing here?” he asked stiffly.

“We came to get out of the storm,” Ford answered. “What are you two doing here?”

Leo’s gaze returned to Aster, who was somewhat cowering behind the stairs. “I wanted to show Aster the lighthouse. Clearly, today wasn’t a good day to do that,” he said, indicating vaguely to the rain that pelted the tower.

Hazel let out a heavy sigh, startling Beatrice. “Look,” she said, struggling to find the right words. “We’re sorry about what happened yesterday.” Ford and Bee nodded in agreement. “Me and Ford came off a tad...” her gaze moved to Aster. “... rude,” she concluded.

A little relief sunk into Leo. He didn’t like it when he and his friends got into fights. “It’s alright, we were all just a little stressed.”

Leo and Aster finished their way down the steps, standing in front of the trio. Hazel let out another puff and strode forward, her hand out in front of her. “I’d like to properly introduce myself.” She said, taking Aster’s hand into her own. “I’m Hazel.” She said, shaking Aster’s hand.

A bashful blush dusted Aster’s checks as he shook her hand back. “I’m Aster.”

When Hazel let go Bee bounded forward and grasped for his hand. “I’m Beatrice, but my friends call me Bee.” she shook his hand and promptly stood back.

Ford casually settled his hand on Aster’s shoulder. “I’m Ford,” he said cooly.

Aster seemed a bit overwhelmed but forced a pitiful smile onto his face. “It’s nice to meet you all,”

Hazel forded her arms across her chest, regarding Aster from top to bottom. “I don’t trust you,” she declared. An uneasy stillness washed over the group. “But,” she amended. “Leo seems to trust you. And if Leo trusts you, I should at least give you a chance.”

Leo gave Hazel a small grateful smile. “... Thank you?” Aster responded, shuffling rigidly under her aloof stare.

Hazel’s eyes hardened as she shifted her gaze back to Leo. “Don’t even think for a second that this means that our little conversation from earlier is over. I’m still worried about you.”

The blonde’s shoulders tensed up. “There’s nothing wrong with me!”

“Oh boy,” Ford muttered under his breath as the tension in the room rose up again.

Ignoring Ford, Hazel continued. “You’ve been acting strange recently, Leo.” She jabbed her finger into Leo’s chest. “You’ve been acting secretive.” Leo opened his mouth but Hazel continued on. “-Leo, if you say that you’re fine one more time I swear I will punch you in the face. I have known you for years now, Leo. I know when something is up. And there is definitely something up here!”

Leo’s shoulders slouched in defeat. “Fine. But we’re not talking about this right now.” Leo turned to Aster. “We should’ve come on a better day.”

Aster nodded in agreement, glancing at the heavy storm.

“We should probably get out of here before the storm gets worse and we get stranded here.” His gaze runs over all of his friends. “We should go to my house, it’s the closest.”

Everyone seemed content with staying at Leo’s house, so Hazel marched up the front door and swung it open. Everyone was immediately soaked to the skin as rain blew in through the door. Ford raised his hand to protect his face from the rain. “Well, there’s no point in turning back now, we’re already soaked.”

There were lots of grumbles as the group struggled their way out of the lighthouse and into the rain.

Bee glanced uneasily at the edge of the cliff the lighthouse was settled on. “We should probably hold on to each other so that no one gets blown off the edge.”

“That’s a good idea!” Ford shouted over the wind and rain.

Leo grabbed tightly onto Hazel’s arm, who was leading the group and wrapped his arm around Aster’s waist, who was behind him. Aster was holding onto Bee’s hand and Ford was gripping on Hazel’s other arm. “If I fall over the edge I’m going to kill all of you,” Hazel yells as they slowly made their way towards Leo’s house.

As they entered the town, unsurprisingly, no one else was out. Everyone else had good sense to stay inside during the storm. “It feels like a ghost town,” Leo heard Bee comment from behind him.

“It does,” Leo felt Aster’s warm breath against his neck as he replied. Leo shuddered and ignored the warm feeling rising up in his chest. He wasn’t supposed to be feeling these emotions with his friends, especially a bloke.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as they got up to Leo’s house. Praying that he’ll be able to be heard over the storm, Leo banged his fist against the door. To everyone’s relief, the door was opened slightly by Agnes. When his older sister’s eyes landed on Leo and his friends, she hauled them all in and slammed the door behind them.

The group of teens slumped down into a wet puddle of exhaustion as the heave from breath. When Leo looked up at his sister she looked down at them with an unimpressed look on her face. The teens finally pull themselves off of the floor tiredly. Leo weakly put his hand on his older sister’s shoulder. “Thank you for opening the door, Agnes.”

Agnes sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m not about to let you all wait out in the rain and get sick. Much less your friends as well.”

“Thank you, Agnes,” Ford speaks up, leaning against the counter.

Agnes’s attention is turned to the rest of the teens she let into her house. Her gaze swept over all of the tired figures before halting on Aster. She stepped forward, getting a better look at the stranger. “You’re new,” she said, raising her eyebrows. 

Aster looked up to meet her gaze. Agnes let out an aborted gasp as she took in the black-haired teen’s beautiful green eyes. “Your eyes-” she started.

Leo grabbed Aster by the shoulder and gestured to Agnes. “Uh, Agnes, this is my friend Aster Wicket.” He said before she could finish her sentence. “Aster, this is my older sister, Agnes.”

Aster hesitantly brought his hand out to shake Agnes’s. Agne’s as hesitantly as Aster had shook his hand back. She forced a smile onto her face. “I-I like your eyes.” She sputtered out nervously.

Agnes didn’t speak about witches often, but Leo knew that she was afraid of them. Leo shared a small look with Aster. Leo could see the hurt swimming around in Aster’s green eyes, but he knew that he understood deep down.

Cole and Lily took that awkward moment of silence to decide to come into the room as well. “What’s going on? I heard people talking.” Lily said, taking in the huddle of wet teens. “Oh, hi!” she smiled.

“Hello,” Bee smiled back.

Lily’s gaze landed upon Aster. “Oh? Who are you?” she stepped forward and shook his hand.

“I’m Aster,” he responded calmly.

Lily smiled at him before stepping back. If Lily understood what green eyes usually meant, she didn’t say anything. Leo was grateful for that.

Cole, on the other hand, had a mischievous look on his face as he looked Aster up and down. Cole had repeatedly brought how he didn’t believe in witches and how he thought all of the witch-hunting stuff was stupid. He turned to Leo and held his hand to his chest in mock-fear. “Ooh! Be careful, Leo! He has green eyes, he’s obviously a witch!” he snarked at his younger brother. 

Leo quickly turned his gaze on Aster and silently shook his head in comfort. 

Before Leo could say anything to defend his friend, Lily whacked his older brother on the back of the head. “Leave them alone, Cole!” she scolded. She turned sympathetically to Aster. “Don’t listen to him, my brother’s just a dumb-ass,” she reassured him.

Aster nodded uncomfortably, shuffling under her gaze. “It’s fine, I get that a lot,” he said, his gaze flicked over to Hazel for a second. 

“I was just joking around!” Cole groans, rubbing the back of his head. “Witches don’t exist, I’m not stupid!” he whines, stepping away from his sister.

Changing the subject, Agnes spoke up. “Well, you guys are lucky that you came when you did. I was about to start cooking. Now I have to make food for nine people now.”

“Sorry, but we didn’t want to stay out in the rain,” Leo said, feeling guilty that his sister had to cook all of that food.

“Come on, Cole. Go get some towels so they can dry off,” she said, taking in their soaked appearances. Cole nodded in defeat and ran off to retrieve the towels. Lily began up the stairs. “I’m going to go get Harley.”

Leo felt a shiver down his spine at the mention of his twin’s name. As the others were distracted, Leo pulled Aster close and whispered in his ear. “Harley knows that I found a witch!”

Aster paled a bit. “He does?” he asked urgently.

Leo nodded guiltily. “When I first met you I told him. But he doesn’t know your name or what you look like.”

Aster relaxed a tiny bit but was still tense. Leo was still mad at himself for telling his brother about Aster. He had told him a half-assed lie to try and throw Harley off of his trail, but he could tell that he was still way too suspicious. Leo hoped that his luck hadn’t run out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, school has been stressful. Thank you for sticking through this with me.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Probably not my longest chapter, but I’m pretty happy with it.
> 
> Warnings for: Vague homophobia and a sadness breakdown

As Lily and Harley came back into the kitchen with Leo and the others, Leo held his breath. Harley glared at his twin, obviously still upset about earlier. Harley, like all of their other siblings, eyes immediately landed on Aster. Leo’s hand tightened around Aster’s as Harley looked him up and down. Before he could comment on anything, Aster spoke first. “Are you Leo’s twin?”

Harley’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Uh, yes,” he said, his gaze flicking at Leo.

Aster nodded, looking at the twins. “Leo said that he had a twin,” he stood forward and shook Harley’s hand. “My name is Aster.” He introduced himself.

Harley smiled at Aster. “I’m Harley, but I’m sure that Leo has told you that.”

Aster nodded in confirmation before turning back to Leo and smiled. “He has,”

Harley looked between Aster and Leo for a moment. “How long have you two known each other? I haven’t met you before.”

Leo warped his arm around Aster’s soggy shoulders nervously. “We’ve known each other for a few days…”

Harley looked like he was about to say more, but Cole emerged from the bathroom with a pile of towels in his arms. “Got the towels.” He said over the pile.

Gladly taking the distraction to get out of the conversation, Leo pulled Aster with him to grab some towels from the pile that Cole had unceremoniously dumped onto the floor. 

As the teens began to dry off with the towels, Lily peeked out the window to check on the storm outside. “I don’t think this is going to let up anytime soon,” she turned back to them, a sympathetic look on her face. “I think you guys should stay here.”

Cole got up from the chair he had seated himself in and peered out the window as well. He let a low whistle as he took in the view of the storm. “Yeah, I agree with Lily on this one. Not even I want to go out and chance that.”

Hazel frowned. “What about our parents?”

“They’ll probably assume that we got shelter somewhere.” Bee said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I guess.” Hazel replied, still looking slightly worried.

“We don’t have enough beds for everyone.” Harley brought up, his eyes flickering across the four guests.

Agnes crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re going to have to share…” she said. “Beatrice and Hazel can sleep in Lily and I’s room. Cole, Harley, you guys are going to take Ford and Aster.”

Harley frowned petulantly. “Why doesn’t Cole have to take anyone?”

Agnes raised her eyebrow, unimpressed for the millionth time that night. “Well, I figured that Leo’s friends would be more comfortable with Leo than Cole.”

Aster nodded silently in agreement beside Leo.

Cole smirked at Harley and stuck his tongue out at him.

Lily smiled. “I’ll go get some extra blankets.”

_ _ _

Leo laid in the centre of his bed with Ford on right and Aster on his left. The bed wasn’t all that big, though Ford didn’t seem to care, as half his body was hanging off the side of the bed. Aster was curled up in a small ball at Leo’s side so that all of him was on top of the bed. Hazel and Bee gladly took refuge with Leo’s sisters in the room down the hall.

Leo glared at his twin’s sleeping form on his own bed. Harley could’ve at least taken one of his friends into his bed with him. Leo has no clue as to how both Aster and Harley had fallen asleep, as Ford’s snoring was very loud.

Between Ford’s snoring and the heavy rain thundering against the walls and ceiling, sleep was pretty much impossible. Leo wanted to try and get out of his bed, but with Ford and Aster pressed against his sides, that was also impossible. “Aster,” Leo whispered, as he gently shook Aster’s shoulder. Aster let out a little noise but didn’t wake up. “Aster,” Leo tried again, slightly louder.

“Leo?” Aster whispered back. His green eyes squinted open, hazy with sleep.

“I need to get out of the bed.” He explained.

“Oh,” he murmured.

As gently as he could, Leo stretched his leg over Aster and quietly stepped onto the floor. Free from his bed, Leo silently left the room and descended the stairs to the kitchen. He plopped down onto a chair and sighed. All of the stress of the past week weighed down on his shoulders. Every time he felt like it was getting better, he and Aster just ended up in a deeper pit.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” Leo jumped in his seat at the unexpected company.

“Beatrice!” He gasped. “You scared me,”

Beatrice sat down in the chair next to him. “I don’t sleep well when others are around.”

Leo frowned. “Really? How do you sleep at home? What about your parents?”

“Oh, I sleep in the woods.” She said.

Leo raised his eyebrows. “You sleep in the woods?” He asked incredulously.

Beatrice nodded, almost proudly. “Since I was five.” She grinned.

“And you’ve never been kidnapped… or murdered… or eaten?”

“No, but it’s nearly happened before many times.”

Leo's brain stopped for a moment. “Which one?”

“All of them,” Beatrice smiled.

“Shouldn’t you take that as a sign… to not sleep outside?” Leo tried to reason with his friend.

Beatrice shook her head. “A little bit of danger never stopped anyone before.”

Leo smiled a bit at that. “You’re right,”

_ _ _

Leo and Beatrice talked until the sky turned into a murky orange as the sun raised. Neither Leo nor Beatrice paid attention to the time or how tired they both were.

“Leo? Beatrice?” They were startled out of their conversation at the sound of Lily’s voice.

Leo whipped around in his seat to face his sister. “Lily? What are you doing awake?”

Lily paused for a moment. “Leo, it’s morning.”

Leo, confused, turned to the window and was met with the thin rays of sunlight. “Oh.” He said dumbly. “It is morning.”

Beatrice looked out the window as well. “And it has stopped raining, too.”

Leo stood up, only to nearly fall over when all of the tiredness of his body caught up to him. “Woah,” Lily said as she caught him by the shoulders. “Did either of you sleep at all?”

Leo shook his head and Beatrice simply shrugged.

Lily sighed heavily at their replies. “You two better go lay down then.” You said, pointing upstairs towards the bedrooms.

Leo nodded silently, his sleep deprived mind happy at the thought of sleep. Leo trudged up the stairs and back into his room. It was still very early in the morning- Leo was surprised that Lily was even awake- and everyone in the room was still asleep. Ford had stopped snoring, but he had stretched out and now took up most of the bed. Aster was curled up in a small section of the bed that Ford had not taken over.

Leo sighed and shoved Ford’s long legs out of the way. Once there was enough room, Leo got in between his two friends as quietly as his sleep deprived mind could manage. He curled in the centre of the bed and wrapped his arms around Aster and pulled him close to his chest. Leo fell asleep almost immediately.

_ _ _

When Leo woke up his arms were empty. He sat up in confusion and took in his surroundings. He rubbed the tiredness from his eyes and looked out the window. It looked to be around the afternoon. He also noticed that he was the only one in the room. A sudden jolt of panic burst through his chest at the thought of leaving Aster alone with his family. He sprung out of bed, nearly blacking out when the blood rushed to his head, and sprinted out of the room.

“Well you’re finally awake.” Hazel’s sarcastic voice startled him for a moment. “Lily told us what happened. You and Bee are dumbasses for staying up that late.” She remarked.

Leo finished his way down the stairs and looked around at the empty kitchen. “Where is everyone?” He asked nervously.

“Your sister, Agnes, said that she wanted to see if there was any damage from the storm yesterday. Everyone else decided to help her. They’re all outside.”

Leo nodded and ran out the door. He ran right into Ford. “Hey,” he said. “You’re awake now.”

Leo nodded. “Yeah, didn’t sleep much.”

Ford patted his back. “Yeah, your sister told us.” He turned away from Leo and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Guys!” He hollered out, “Leo’s awake!”

“Well it’s about damn time!” Came Harley’s reply from wherever he was.

Agnes came towards Leo and Ford carrying a bundle of sticks and branches, presumably from some poor tree that got teared apart during the storm. She gestured somewhere behind her with her head “Come help me carry a bunch of branches. A tree got struck down last night, and we can use the wood for a fire.”

Leo and Ford headed out where they found a large tree by the edge of the town that had been struck down. Beatrice and Aster were there as well. “Hullo, Leo.” Aster said as he looked mournfully down at the tree.

Knowing how Aster felt about nature, Leo came up beside him and planted a sympathetic hand onto his shoulder. “Did you sleep well?”

Leo felt Aster shrug beneath his hand. “Well enough,”

Leo hesitantly removed his hand from him and turned to Beatrice. “How about you?”

Beatrice shook her head tiredly. “I didn’t sleep at all.” She said. “Like I told you; I don’t like sleeping around others.” She gestured to the soaked land around her. “And I very well couldn’t have slept outside in a storm.”

Leo tried to imagine sleeping in a tree during a storm. It didn’t turn out pretty. “No, you really couldn’t,” Leo agreed.

“Stop the chit chat and help me carry this wood!” Agnes exclaimed as she approached them.

Leo nodded and knelt down with Aster and began to gather up some wood. “The wood is pretty wet,” Leo said. “How are you going to use this for fire?” Leo asked, as the dampness of the wood soaked his sleeves.

“Wait for them to dry, you dumbass.” Hazel rolled her eyes as she approached them as well to help. She grabbed an armful of the soaking wood “We’ll leave the wood out in the sun in front of the house and bring them in when they dry.”

Aster glanced up at the sky. “Well we better collect the wood before the sun sets. It’s nearly the afternoon.” The witch knelt down and grabbed an armful as well. “Come on,” he encouraged, heading back towards the house.

Agnes smiled, her eyes following the black-haired teen. “I like him.” She said.

Leo shrugged and jogged as fast as he could with a heavy pile of wood in his arms after his friend. Once he caught up with the witch, he smiled and nudged him with his elbow “My sister likes you, Aster,”

A small smile surfaced on Aster’s face. “That’s good,” he said, “it’s better than her being suspicious of me.”

“That’s true,” Leo amended. “I think she’s gotten over your eyes. She seems less nervous around you than yesterday.”

“Well, to be fair, she had just met me. She had every right to be suspicious of a stranger.”

Leo frowned. “Yes, you were a stranger to her, but you weren’t a stranger to me. You’re my friend, and she should’ve trusted me enough to trust my friends.”

Aster gave Leo a comforting look. “You should always be suspicious of strangers. Whether your friend knows them or not, you don’t know them. I didn’t rust Hazel, Ford, nor Beatrice when I first met them,” he reasoned.

“Yes, but you have a good reason to be suspicious,” Leo argued. “They could kill you with one word.”

“It’s the same for anyone else,” Aster replied calmly.

“But, Aster-” Leo began to protest again. 

“Will you two stop bickering?!” Harley shouted from somewhere behind them.

Leo and Aster shared a small look before quieting. The two teens walked in an awkward silence the rest of the way back to Leo’s home. With a grunt, Leo released his load of wood onto the growing pile in front of the door. Aster did so as well.

As they turned back to retrieve some more wood, Leo eyed Aster from the corner of his vision. “I’m sorry I argued with you.” He said eventually.

He saw Aster’s lips shift to a small smile. “It’s alright. It’s been a stressful day and you didn’t sleep much last night.” He reasoned.

“Thank you, Aster.” Leo murmured.

Leo felt Aster’s small hand slip into his as they walked silently together. A comfortable silence floating around the two teens. It was moments like these that Leo wished lasted forever. Like the fading memory of being held in his mother’s arms as a child. But Leo knew that nothing lasts forever, as they approached the clearing with the fallen tree once more, Aster’s hand fell from his grasp as they came closer to the others. Leo felt a burning and empty absence in his hand as Aster’s hand left his. 

_ _ _

By the time everyone had gotten the wood into a neat pile in front of the house it was night again. It wasn’t ideal, but at least they had the wood. “You guys should get home now,” Agnes sighed, glaring up at the dark sky.

Ford had gone home a few hours ago, so the only ones left were Hazel, Aster, and Beatrice. “Thanks for letting us stay during the storm.” Hazel said. “I should probably get home before my brother has a heart attack.”

Agnes nodded. “That’s a good idea,” she paused for a moment. “Tell Charlie ‘hi’ for me.”

“I will,” and with that Hazel turned around and started her way into town.

Leo raised his eyebrows at his sister. “Charlie?”

Agnes shrugged, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We met a while ago…”

Before the situation could get any more awkward, Beatrice pulled Leo and, and to his surprise, Aster into a tight hug. “Goodbye!” She released them, smiling cheerfully.

“G-goodbye, Beatrice.” Aster murmured back as she skipped away towards the woods.

As they watched Beatrice disappear into the distance, Agnes turned to Aster curiously. “Where do you live, Aster? I’ve never seen you around here before.”

The pit in Leo’s stomach returned. He couldn’t tell his sister that Aster lived on the hill where ‘the witch’ lived. Agnes had just begun to trust his friend and this would completely ruin that small trust. Leo knew that deep down Agnes believed in witches. With Aster’s green eyes, introverted behaviour, and the goddamn fact that he lives on the infamous hill.

“I live in the forest by Beatrice.” Aster said, halting Leo’s inner downward spiral. “I should probably go and catch up with Beatrice.”

“Good idea,” Agnes smiled. “You should come around again sometime, it was nice meeting you.”

Aster turned to Leo and smiled reassuringly. Leo stepped forward and pulled Aster into a tight hug. He settled his chin onto the smaller teen’s shoulder. “See you later,” he said, pulling back. Agnes looked between the two boys as they held each other tight, her expression morphing into a pinched one.

Aster nodded before turning around to catch up with Beatrice. Leo waved at his friend as he disappeared into the forest despite the fact that Aster couldn’t see it. He could see his sister frowning at him from the corner of his vision, but that was a standard ‘Agnes face’, so he didn’t pay much mind towards it. He turned cheerfully to her, smiling “We should get inside before it gets too dark.”

The frown on Agnes’ face remained, much to Leo’s concern and confusion, but she nodded and followed him to the house.

As the two siblings entered their home, Cole came up to Leo and ruffled his blonde hair. “Make sure to actually sleep this time, dumb-ass.” He snarked at his younger brother.

Leo shoved Cole’s hand from his head, smirking. “I’ll try my best,” he promised.

Lily yawned, popping the joint in her arms. “Tell your friends that I said ‘thanks’ next time you see them.” She pulled Leo into a short hug. “I’m going to bed,” she announced, before retreating up the stairs.

Cole offered Leo and Agnes a lazy wave before following Lily up the stairs.

As Leo moved to join his brother and sister, Agnes’ hand on his shoulder prevented him from going any further. She crouched down at eye level with her younger brother. “Get some sleep, Leo.” She said. Leo tried to break free from her grip, but her hands only tightened their hold upon his shoulders. Leo was getting a bad feeling from his sister. “Leo,” she said eventually, “I don’t want Aster to come back here.”

Leo’s face morphed from confused to shocked to angry in the blink of an eye. “What?!” He asked, very lost. He swore that just a second ago that she was completely fine. What happened? He quickly ran over everything that happened within the past hour in his brain for anything that could’ve caused this. “You just told him to come back a second ago!” He accused her.

Agnes sighed heavily, her steel grip forcing Leo to maintain eye contact with her. “He’s weird.” She explained. “I don’t want his weirdness to rub off on you. You know what people do to his kind around here.” She hissed at him, disgust dripping from her voice.

“What do you mean ‘his kind’!?” He was yelling now. Their siblings trying to sleep upstairs no doubt were hearing this now.

“Stop yelling!” She shouted back at him.

Now completely blinded by rage and confusion, Leo yanked himself out of Agnes’ grip and stormed upstairs, slamming open the door to his room. As the door slammed shut behind him, Harley woke up with a start and jerked up in a sitting position on his bed. “What-?” He began, but stopped when he took in the murderous look on his twin’s face.

“Shut up.” Leo growled firmly, before throwing himself onto his bed, causing the bed to creak in protest at the sudden weight.

_ _ _

Leo didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up surrounded by marigolds, he knew he was dreaming. His eyes adjusted to the light and focused in on Aster, who was crouching over him with a look of mild concern plaguing his face. “Are you alright?” He asked, now that Leo was awake. “You were tossing and turning before you came to.” Aster’s calm soothing voice forced Leo to ground himself and calm down.

The witch backed up a bit as Leo sat up, taking deep calming breaths. “I’m fine.” He finally responded.

“Did…” the witch began, “did something happen?” He asked cautiously.

Leo ran his hand down his face before nodding. “Agnes completely flipped as soon as you left!” He felt his eyes stinging with frustration. Then, suddenly, he had tears running down his face and everything he had been holding in the past few weeks came flooding out like a burst dam. 

Now, with concern and sadness fully consuming his pretty face, Aster pulled Leo into his comforting arms. Leo went limp in his best friend’s warm embrace, wrapping his arms around his waist and digging his face into his chest. He tried to explain what happened, but his words just came out as muffled gibberish as his hot tears soaked into Aster’s clothing.

Leo felt completely lost and confused. He was confused about his family, he was confused about his job, and he was confused about his feelings. Despite all of his feelings, Aster’s embrace, Aster rubbing a circle into his back with his hand, and Aster’s calm humming buzzing in the back of his head made him feel better. He felt like he was drowning, and someone had grabbed his arm to rescue him. It felt like a bright light at the end of a dark, dark tunnel.

Leo’s sobs slowly but surely transitioned into quiet hiccups and then into nothing. Aster’s soft humming continued to fill the silence as the two teens rocked together through Leo’s breakdown. Leo breathed in the, now familiar, scent of his best friend, letting himself sink fully into the black-haired teen’s lap.

“I’m sorry-” he mumbled, beginning to apologise.

Aster cut him off, shushing him, running a calming hand down his spine. “You’re fine,” he reassured him. “Just rest. You need it.” 

Aster whispered something in Leo’s ear that he couldn’t understand, and suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to sleep. As his vision darkened and Aster’s humming drifted into the background, Leo vaguely registered that the witch probably casted a spell on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He let himself drift away into the darkness, content with laying in his best friend’s lap. For a single moment. All was well.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I had sitting in my google docs for awhile. I think I'll continue it. I hope you like it, let me know if there's any grammar corrections I need to make.


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